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Distinctive Conformation of Minor Site‐Specific Nuclear Localization Signals Bound to Importin‐α

Overview of attention for article published in Traffic, August 2013
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Title
Distinctive Conformation of Minor Site‐Specific Nuclear Localization Signals Bound to Importin‐α
Published in
Traffic, August 2013
DOI 10.1111/tra.12098
Pubmed ID
Authors

Chiung‐Wen Chang, Rafael Miguez Couñago, Simon J. Williams, Mikael Bodén, Bostjan Kobe

Abstract

Nuclear localization signals (NLSs) contain one or two clusters of basic residues and are recognized by the import receptor importin-α. There are two NLS-binding sites (major and minor) on importin-α and the major NLS-binding site is considered to be the primary binding site. Here, we used crystallographic and biochemical methods to investigate the binding between importin-α and predicted 'minor site-specific' NLSs: four peptide library-derived peptides, and the NLS from mouse RNA helicase II/Guα. The crystal structures reveal that these atypical NLSs indeed preferentially bind to the minor NLS-binding site. Unlike previously characterized NLSs, the C-terminal residues of these NLSs form an α-helical turn, stabilized by internal H-bond and cation-π interactions between the aromatic residues from the NLSs and the positively charged residues from importin-α. This helical turn sterically hinders binding at the major NLS-binding site, explaining the minor-site preference. Our data suggest the sequence RXXKR[K/X][F/Y/W]XXAF as the optimal minor NLS-binding site-specific motif, which may help identify novel proteins with atypical NLSs.

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Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 35 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Unknown 35 100%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Ph. D. Student 10 29%
Student > Master 4 11%
Researcher 3 9%
Student > Bachelor 3 9%
Other 2 6%
Other 4 11%
Unknown 9 26%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 11 31%
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 10 29%
Unspecified 1 3%
Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutical Science 1 3%
Computer Science 1 3%
Other 2 6%
Unknown 9 26%