Structural delineation of the calcineurin-NFAT interaction and its parallels to PP1 targeting interactions

J Mol Biol. 2004 Oct 1;342(5):1659-74. doi: 10.1016/j.jmb.2004.07.068.

Abstract

Calcineurin is a phosphoprotein phosphatase that channels intracellular Ca signals into multiple biological pathways. Calcineurin is known to interact directly with its substrate nuclear factor of activated T cells (NFAT or NFATc), with other substrates, and with several targeting and scaffold proteins including AKAP79 and Cabin1/cain. The calcineurin-NFAT interaction depends on recognition of a PxIxIT sequence motif present in NFAT-family proteins and in certain other calcineurin-interacting proteins. Here, we define the structural basis for the interaction of calcineurin with NFAT and with other proteins possessing the PxIxIT motif. The calcineurin-PxIxIT contact has a direct parallel in the contact of protein phosphatase 1 with its regulatory proteins, suggesting that the evolution of these related phosphatases involved local remodelling of an ancestral docking site.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Binding Sites
  • Calcineurin / chemistry*
  • Calcineurin / genetics
  • Calcineurin / metabolism*
  • Computer Simulation
  • Cross-Linking Reagents
  • DNA-Binding Proteins / chemistry*
  • DNA-Binding Proteins / metabolism*
  • Humans
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • NFATC Transcription Factors
  • Nuclear Proteins*
  • Peptide Fragments / chemistry
  • Peptide Fragments / metabolism
  • Phosphoprotein Phosphatases / metabolism*
  • Phosphoproteins / chemistry
  • Phosphoproteins / metabolism
  • Phosphorylation
  • Protein Binding
  • Protein Conformation
  • Protein Folding
  • Protein Interaction Mapping
  • Protein Phosphatase 1
  • Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
  • Threonine / chemistry
  • Threonine / genetics
  • Transcription Factors / chemistry*
  • Transcription Factors / metabolism*

Substances

  • Cross-Linking Reagents
  • DNA-Binding Proteins
  • NFATC Transcription Factors
  • Nuclear Proteins
  • Peptide Fragments
  • Phosphoproteins
  • Transcription Factors
  • Threonine
  • Calcineurin
  • Phosphoprotein Phosphatases
  • Protein Phosphatase 1