Unique structural features of a BCL-2 family protein CED-9 and biophysical characterization of CED-9/EGL-1 interactions

J. S. Woo, J. S. Jung, N. C. Ha, J. Shin, K. H. Kim, W. Lee, B. H. Oh

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

37 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The interactions between B-cell lymphoma 2 (BCL-2) family members are known to be mediated through the binding of the BH3 domain of a proapoptotic member to the BH3-binding groove of an antiapoptotic member. We determined the crystal structure of antiapoptotic CED-9, which reveals a unique C-terminal helix altering the common BH3-binding region. A coexpression system to produce CED-9 in complex with proapoptotic EGL-1 enabled us to show that the binding of EGL-1 to CED-9 is extremely stable, raising the melting temperature (Tm) of CED-9 by 25°C, and that the binding surface of CED-9 extends beyond the BH3-binding region and reaches the BH4 domain. Consistently, the Tm and a 1H-15N correlation NMR spectrum of CED-9 in complex with EGL-1 are drastically different from those of CED-9 in complex with the EGL-1 BH3 peptide. The data suggest that the recognition between other BCL-2 family members may also involve much wider protein surfaces than is previously thought.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1310-1319
Number of pages10
JournalCell Death and Differentiation
Volume10
Issue number12
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2003 Dec
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We thank Professors J Ahnn (KJIST) and J Lee (Yonsei University) for providing the C. elegance cDNA library. This study used the beamline 6B at the Pohang Accelerator Laboratory and was supported by Creative Research Initiatives (to B-HO) and by the National Research Laboratory program (M1-0203-00-0020) (to WL) of the Korean Ministry of Science and Technology. J-SW, J-SJ, and N-CH were supported by the Brain Korea 21 Project.

Keywords

  • Apoptosis
  • BCL-2 family
  • CED-9
  • EGL-1
  • Molecular recognition

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Molecular Biology
  • Cell Biology

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