A helix replacement mechanism directs metavinculin functions.

ABSTRACT: Cells require distinct adhesion complexes to form contacts with their neighbors or the extracellular matrix, and vinculin links these complexes to the actin cytoskeleton. Metavinculin, an isoform of vinculin that harbors a unique 68-residue insert in its tail domain, has distinct actin bundling and oligomerization properties and plays essential roles in muscle development and homeostasis. Moreover, patients with sporadic or familial mutations in the metavinculin-specific insert invariably develop fatal cardiomyopathies. Here we report the high resolution crystal structure of the metavinculin tail domain, as well as the crystal structures of full-length human native metavinculin (1,134 residues) and of the full-length cardiomyopathy-associated DeltaLeu954 metavinculin deletion mutant. These

SUBMITTER: Rangarajan ES 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2873289 | biostudies-literature | 2010 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature