Intrinsically disordered electronegative clusters improve stability and binding specificity of RNA-binding proteins.

ABSTRACT: RNA-binding proteins play crucial roles in various cellular functions and contain abundant disordered protein regions. The disordered regions in RNA-binding proteins are rich in repetitive sequences, such as poly-K/R, poly-N/Q, poly-A, and poly-G residues. Our bioinformatic analysis identified a largely neglected repetitive sequence family we define as electronegative clusters (ENCs) that contain acidic residues and/or phosphorylation sites. The abundance and length of ENCs exceed other known repetitive sequences. Despite their abundance, the functions of ENCs in RNA-binding proteins are still elusive. To investigate the impacts of ENCs on protein stability, RNA-binding affinity, and specificity, we selected one RNA-binding protein, the ribosomal biogenesis factor 15 (Nop15), as a model. W

SUBMITTER: Zaharias S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8348266 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature