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Calcium-Binding Protein Protocols Calcium-Binding Protein Protocols

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Dipolar Couplings for Structure Refinement 301<br />

23<br />

The Use of Dipolar Couplings<br />

for the Structure Refinement of a Pair<br />

of <strong>Calcium</strong>-<strong>Binding</strong> EGF Domains<br />

Jonathan Boyd, Iain D. Campbell, and A. Kristina Downing<br />

1. Introduction<br />

The calcium-binding (cb) epidermal growth factor-like (EGF) domain is a<br />

common variant of the EGF module that contains a consensus sequence associated<br />

with ligation of a single calcium ion (1–3). Many extracellular proteins<br />

include cbEGF domains, and several of these have been associated with human<br />

disease (reviewed in ref. 4). Two examples from this group are human fibrillin-1<br />

and the low-density liproprotein (LDL) receptor. Moreover, mutations within<br />

these proteins have been linked to the Marfan syndrome and familial<br />

hypercholesterolaemia, respectively. Recently, we have been using solution<br />

NMR to probe the structure, calcium-binding properties and dynamics of tandem<br />

cbEGF domains from these two proteins.<br />

The structure of the thirty-second and thirty-third cbEGF domains from<br />

human fibrillin-1 (cbEGF32–33) revealed that, in the presence of calcium ions,<br />

the two modules adopt a stable rigid rod-like conformation (5). Analysis of the<br />

structure suggests that the domain arrangement is stabilized by the calcium<br />

binding to the C-terminal domain in addition to interdomain hydrophobic<br />

packing interactions. Furthermore, protein sequence analysis has predicted that<br />

the relative orientation of these domains might be a structurally conserved feature<br />

of a number of functionally distinct proteins. To test this hypothesis, we<br />

have probed the specificity of cbEGF domain packing interactions via investigation<br />

of the structure of the cbEGF pair from the LDL receptor (LDLR-AB)<br />

(Downing, A. K., et al., manuscript in preparation). For the structure determination<br />

of this module pair, we have measured and implemented methods that<br />

From: Methods in Molecular Biology, vol. 173:<br />

<strong>Calcium</strong>-<strong>Binding</strong> <strong>Protein</strong> <strong>Protocols</strong>, Vol. 2: Methods and Techniques<br />

Edited by: H. J. Vogel © Humana Press Inc., Totowa, NJ<br />

301

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