Insights into the molecular determinants involved in cap recognition by the vaccinia virus D10 decapping enzyme.

ABSTRACT: Decapping enzymes are required for the removal of the 5'-end (m7)GpppN cap of mRNAs to allow their decay in cells. While many cap-binding proteins recognize the cap structure via the stacking of the methylated guanosine ring between two aromatic residues, the precise mechanism of cap recognition by decapping enzymes has yet to be determined. In order to get insights into the interaction of decapping enzymes with the cap structure, we studied the vaccinia virus D10 decapping enzyme as a model to investigate the important features for substrate recognition by the enzyme. We demonstrate that a number of chemically modified purines can competitively inhibit the decapping reaction, highlighting the molecular features of the cap structure that are required for recognition by the enzyme, such as

SUBMITTER: Souliere MF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2995054 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature