2. Academic Validation
  3. Structural basis for the selective nuclear import of the C2H2 zinc-finger protein Snail by importin β

Structural basis for the selective nuclear import of the C2H2 zinc-finger protein Snail by importin β

  • Acta Crystallogr D Biol Crystallogr. 2014 Apr;70(Pt 4):1050-60. doi: 10.1107/S1399004714000972.
Saehae Choi 1,  Eiki Yamashita 2,  Noriko Yasuhara 3,  Jinsue Song 1,  Se-Young Son 1,  Young Han Won 1,  Hye Rim Hong 1,  Yoon Sik Shin 1,  Toshihiro Sekimoto 4,  Il Yeong Park 1,  Yoshihiro Yoneda 3,  Soo Jae Lee 1
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 College of Pharmacy, Chungbuk National University, Seungbong 410, Heungduk, Cheongju, Chungbuk 361-763, Republic of Korea.
  • 2 Institute for Protein Research, Osaka University, 1-3 Yamada-oka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan.
  • 3 Department of Frontier Biosciences, Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, Osaka University, 1-3 Yamada-oka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan.
  • 4 Department of Biochemistry, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, 1-3 Yamada-oka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan.
PMID: 24699649 DOI: 10.1107/S1399004714000972
Abstract

Snail contributes to the epithelial-mesenchymal transition by suppressing E-cadherin in transcription processes. The Snail C2H2-type zinc-finger (ZF) domain functions both as a nuclear localization signal which binds to importin β directly and as a DNA-binding domain. Here, a 2.5 Å resolution structure of four ZF domains of Snail1 complexed with importin β is presented. The X-ray structure reveals that the four ZFs of Snail1 are required for tight binding to importin β in the nuclear import of Snail1. The shape of the ZFs in the X-ray structure is reminiscent of a round snail, where ZF1 represents the head, ZF2-ZF4 the shell, showing a novel interaction mode, and the five C-terminal residues the tail. Although there are many kinds of C2H2-type ZFs which have the same fold as Snail, nuclear import by direct recognition of importin β is observed in a limited number of C2H2-type ZF proteins such as Snail, Wt1, KLF1 and KLF8, which have the common feature of terminating in ZF domains with a short tail of Amino acids.

Keywords

Snail; importin β; nuclear transport; zinc-finger domains.

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