Tiki, at the head of a new superfamily of enzymes

Bioinformatics. 2013 Oct 1;29(19):2371-4. doi: 10.1093/bioinformatics/btt412. Epub 2013 Jul 18.

Abstract

Tiki proteins appear to antagonize Wnt signalling pathway by acting as Wnt proteases, thereby affecting Wnt solubility by its amino-terminal cleavage. Tiki1 protease activity was shown to be metal ion-dependent and was inhibited by chelating agents and thus was tentatively proposed to be a metalloprotease. Nevertheless, Tiki proteins exhibit no detectable sequence similarity to previously described metalloproteases, but instead have been reported as being homologues of TraB proteins (Pfam ID: PF01963), a widely distributed family of unknown function and structure. Here, we show that Tiki proteins are members of a new superfamily of domains contained not just in TraB proteins, but also in erythromycin esterase (Pfam ID: PF05139), DUF399 (domain of unknown function 399; Pfam ID: PF04187) and MARTX toxins that contribute to host invasion and pathogenesis by bacteria. We establish the core fold of this enzymatic domain and its catalytic residues.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Biocatalysis
  • Metalloproteases / chemistry*
  • Models, Molecular
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Protein Structure, Tertiary
  • Sequence Alignment
  • Sequence Analysis, Protein

Substances

  • Metalloproteases