Modular architecture of protein structures and allosteric communications: potential implications for signaling proteins and regulatory linkages.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Allosteric communications are vital for cellular signaling. Here we explore a relationship between protein architectural organization and shortcuts in signaling pathways.

Results

We show that protein domains consist of modules interconnected by residues that mediate signaling through the shortest pathways. These mediating residues tend to be located at the inter-modular boundaries, which are more rigid and display a larger number of long-range interactions than intra-modular regions. The inter-modular boundaries contain most of the residues centrally conserved in the protein fold, which may be crucial for information transfer between amino acids. Our approach to modular decomposition relies on a representation of protein structures as residue-interacting networks,

SUBMITTER: Del Sol A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1929157 | biostudies-literature | 2007

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature