Journal article
Retrotransposon Target Site Selection by Imitation of a Cellular Protein
Molecular and cellular biology, Vol.28(4), pp.1230-1239
02/2008
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/118071
PMCID: PMC2258757
PMID: 18086891
Abstract
Mobile elements rely on cellular processes to replicate, and therefore, mobile element proteins frequently interact with a variety of cellular factors. The integrase (IN) encoded by the retrotransposon Ty5 interacts with the heterochromatin protein Sir4, and this interaction determines Ty5's preference to integrate into heterochromatin. We explored the hypothesis that Ty5's targeting mechanism arose by mimicking an interaction between Sir4 and another cellular protein(s). Mutational analyses defined the requirements for the IN-Sir4 interaction, providing criteria to screen for cellular analogues. Esc1, a protein associated with the inner nuclear membrane, interacted with the same domain of Sir4 as IN, and 75% of mutations that disrupted IN-Sir4 interactions also abrogated Esc1-Sir4 interactions. A small motif critical for recognizing Sir4 was identified in Esc1. The functional equivalency of this motif and the Sir4-interacting domain of IN was demonstrated by swapping these motifs and showing that the chimeric IN and Esc1 proteins effectively target integration and partition DNA, respectively. We conclude that Ty5 targets integration by imitating the Esc1-Sir4 interaction and suggest molecular mimicry as a general mechanism that enables mobile elements to interface with cellular processes.
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Details
- Title
- Retrotransposon Target Site Selection by Imitation of a Cellular Protein
- Creators
- Troy L Brady - Department of Genetics, Development, and Cell Biology, 1035A Roy J. Carver Co-Laboratory, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011Peter G Fuerst - Department of Genetics, Development, and Cell Biology, 1035A Roy J. Carver Co-Laboratory, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011Robert A Dick - Department of Genetics, Development, and Cell Biology, 1035A Roy J. Carver Co-Laboratory, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011Clarice Schmidt - Department of Genetics, Development, and Cell Biology, 1035A Roy J. Carver Co-Laboratory, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011Daniel F Voytas - Department of Genetics, Development, and Cell Biology, 1035A Roy J. Carver Co-Laboratory, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011
- Publication Details
- Molecular and cellular biology, Vol.28(4), pp.1230-1239
- Academic Unit
- Center for Reproductive Biology
- Publisher
- American Society for Microbiology (ASM)
- Identifiers
- 99900548468501842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article