Abstract
Prostate apoptosis response factor-4 (Par-4) is a pro-apoptotic and tumor-suppressive protein. A highly conserved heptad repeat sequence at the Par-4 C-terminus suggests the presence of a leucine zipper (LZ). This C-terminal region is essential for Par-4 self-association and interaction with various effector proteins. We have used nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy to fully assign the chemical shift resonances of a peptide comprising the LZ domain of Par-4 at neutral pH. Further, we have investigated the properties of the Par-4 LZ domain and two point mutants under a variety of conditions using NMR, circular dichroism (CD), light scattering, and bioinformatics. Results indicate an environment-dependent conformational equilibrium between a partially ordered monomer (POM) and a predominantly coiled coil dimer (CCD). The combination of techniques used allows the time scales of the equilibrium to be probed and also helps to identify features of the amino acid sequence that may influence the equilibrium.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 2433-2449 |
Number of pages | 17 |
Journal | Proteins: Structure, Function and Bioinformatics |
Volume | 78 |
Issue number | 11 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Aug 15 2010 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Circular dichroism
- Leucine zipper
- Prostate apoptosis response factor 4
- Solution NMR spectroscopy
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Molecular Biology
- Structural Biology
- Biochemistry