Structures of two intermediate filament-binding fragments of desmoplakin reveal a unique repeat motif structure.
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Choi HJ, Park-Snyder S, Pascoe LT, Green KJ, Weis WI
Structures of two intermediate filament-binding fragments of desmoplakin reveal a unique repeat motif structure.
Nat Struct Biol. 2002 Aug;9(8):612-20.
- PubMed ID
- 12101406 [ View in PubMed]
- Abstract
Desmosomes are intercellular junctions in which cadherin cell adhesion molecules are linked to the intermediate filament (IF) system. Desmoplakin is a member of the plakin family of IF-binding proteins. The C-terminal domain of desmoplakin (DPCT) mediates binding to IFs in desmosomes. The DPCT sequence contains three regions, termed A, B and C, consisting of 4.5 copies of a 38-amino acid repeat motif. We demonstrate that these regions form discrete subdomains that bind to IFs and report the crystal structures of domains B and C. In contrast to the elongated structures formed by other kinds of repeat motifs, the plakin repeats form a globular structure with a unique fold. A conserved basic groove found on the domain may represent an IF-binding site.