scholarly journals Structure of the RBD-PRDI fragment of the antiterminator protein GlcT

Author(s):  
Sebastian Himmel ◽  
Christian Grosse ◽  
Sebastian Wolff ◽  
Claudia Schwiegk ◽  
Stefan Becker

GlcT is a transcriptional antiterminator protein that is involved in regulation of glucose metabolism inBacillus subtilis. Antiterminator proteins bind specific RNA sequences, thus preventing the formation of overlapping terminator stem-loops. The structure of a fragment (residues 3–170) comprising the RNA-binding domain (RBD) and the first regulatory domain (PRDI) of GlcT was solved at 2.0 Å resolution with one molecule in the asymmetric unit. The two domains are connected by a helical linker. Their interface is mostly constituted by hydrophobic interactions.

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (19) ◽  
pp. 10263
Author(s):  
Martin Panigaj ◽  
Michael P. Marino ◽  
Jakob Reiser

Lentiviral (LV) vectors have emerged as powerful tools for transgene delivery ex vivo but in vivo gene therapy applications involving LV vectors have faced a number of challenges, including the low efficiency of transgene delivery, a lack of tissue specificity, immunogenicity to both the product encoded by the transgene and the vector, and the inactivation of the vector by the human complement cascade. To mitigate these issues, several engineering approaches, involving the covalent modification of vector particles or the incorporation of specific protein domains into the vector’s envelope, have been tested. Short synthetic oligonucleotides, including aptamers bound to the surface of LV vectors, may provide a novel means with which to retarget LV vectors to specific cells and to shield these vectors from neutralization by sera. The purpose of this study was to develop strategies to tether nucleic acid sequences, including short RNA sequences, to LV vector particles in a specific and tight fashion. To bind short RNA sequences to LV vector particles, a bacteriophage lambda N protein-derived RNA binding domain (λN), fused to the measles virus hemagglutinin protein, was used. The λN protein bound RNA sequences bearing a boxB RNA hairpin. To test this approach, we used an RNA aptamer specific to the human epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), which was bound to LV vector particles via an RNA scaffold containing a boxB RNA motif. The results obtained confirmed that the EGFR-specific RNA aptamer bound to cells expressing EGFR and that the boxB containing the RNA scaffold was bound specifically to the λN RNA binding domain attached to the vector. These results show that LV vectors can be equipped with nucleic acid sequences to develop improved LV vectors for in vivo applications.


2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (16) ◽  
pp. 9262-9272 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deqiang Ding ◽  
Chao Wei ◽  
Kunzhe Dong ◽  
Jiali Liu ◽  
Alexander Stanton ◽  
...  

Abstract LOTUS domains are helix-turn-helix protein folds identified in essential germline proteins and are conserved in prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Despite originally predicted as an RNA binding domain, its molecular binding activity towards RNA and protein is controversial. In particular, the most conserved binding property for the LOTUS domain family remains unknown. Here, we uncovered an unexpected specific interaction of LOTUS domains with G-rich RNA sequences. Intriguingly, LOTUS domains exhibit high affinity to RNA G-quadruplex tertiary structures implicated in diverse cellular processes including piRNA biogenesis. This novel LOTUS domain-RNA interaction is conserved in bacteria, plants and animals, comprising the most ancient binding feature of the LOTUS domain family. By contrast, LOTUS domains do not preferentially interact with DNA G-quadruplexes. We further show that a subset of LOTUS domains display both RNA and protein binding activities. These findings identify the LOTUS domain as a specialized RNA binding domain across phyla and underscore the molecular mechanism underlying the function of LOTUS domain-containing proteins in RNA metabolism and regulation.


2002 ◽  
Vol 66 (3) ◽  
pp. 682-684 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takeshi HAYASHI ◽  
Maino TAHARA ◽  
Kenta IWASAKI ◽  
Yoshiaki KOUZUMA ◽  
Makoto KIMURA

FEBS Letters ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guan‐Ru Liao ◽  
Yeu‐Yang Tseng ◽  
Ching‐Yu Tseng ◽  
Ying‐Ping Huang ◽  
Ching‐Hsiu Tsai ◽  
...  

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