Your browser version may not work well with NCBI's Web applications. More information here...
1: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2004 Mar 2;101(9):2906-11. Epub 2004 Feb 20.
Related Articles, Links
Click here to read Click here to read Click here to read
Intersubunit signal transmission in integrins by a receptor-like interaction with a pull spring.

Yang W, Shimaoka M, Salas A, Takagi J, Springer TA.

The CBR Institute for Biomedical Research and Department of Pathology, Harvard Medical School, 200 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA.

The function of some multidomain proteins is regulated by interdomain communication. We use second-site suppressor cysteine mutations to test a hypothesis on how the inserted (I)-like domain in the integrin beta-subunit regulates ligand binding by the neighboring I domain in the integrin alpha-subunit [Huth, J. R., Olejniczak, E. T., Mendoza, R., Liang, H., Harris, E. A., et al. (2000) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 97, 5231-5236; and Alonso, J. L., Essafi, M., Xiong, J. P., Stehle, T. & Arnaout, M. A. (2002) Curr. Biol. 12, R340-R342]. The hypothesis is that an interaction between the beta I-like metal ion-dependent adhesion site (MIDAS) and an intrinsic ligand in the linker following the alpha I domain, Glu-310, exerts a pull that activates the alpha I domain. Individual mutation of alpha(L) linker residue Glu-310 or beta(2) MIDAS residues Ala-210 or Tyr-115 to cysteine abolishes I domain activation, whereas the double mutation of alpha(L)-E310C with either beta(2)-A210C or beta(2)-Y115C forms a disulfide bond that constitutively activates ligand binding. The disulfide-bonded mutant is resistant to small molecule antagonists that bind to the beta I-like domain near its interface with the alpha I domain and inhibit communication between these domains but remains susceptible to small molecule antagonists that bind underneath the I domain alpha 7-helix and certain allosteric antagonistic antibodies. Thus, the alpha 7-helix and its linker are better modeled as a pull spring than a bell rope. The results suggest that alpha(L) residue Glu-310, which is universally conserved in all I domain-containing integrins, functions as an intrinsic ligand for the beta I-like domain, and that when integrins are activated, the beta I-like MIDAS binds to Glu-310, pulls the spring, and thereby activates the alpha I domain.

Publication Types:
PMID: 14978279 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

PMCID: PMC365718