1w8a: Difference between revisions

[[Image:1w8a.gif|left|200px]]<br /><applet load="1w8a" size="350" color="white" frame="true" align="right" spinBox="true"  

Recognition of the large secreted protein Slit by receptors of the Robo family provides fundamental signals in axon guidance and other developmental processes. In Drosophila, Slit-Robo signalling regulates midline crossing and the lateral position of longitudinal axon tracts. We report the functional dissection of Drosophila Slit, using structure analysis, site-directed mutagenesis and in vitro assays. The N-terminal region of Slit consists of a tandem array of four independently folded leucine-rich repeat (LRR) domains, connected by disulphide-tethered linkers. All three Drosophila Robos were found to compete for a single highly conserved site on the concave face of the second LRR domain of Slit. We also found that this domain is sufficient for biological activity in a chemotaxis assay. Other Slit activities may require Slit dimerisation mediated by the fourth LRR domain. Our results show that a small portion of Slit is able to induce Robo signalling and indicate that the distinct functions of Drosophila Robos are encoded in their divergent cytosolic domains.

1W8A is a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_protein Single protein] structure of sequence from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drosophila_melanogaster Drosophila melanogaster]. Full crystallographic information is available from [http://oca.weizmann.ac.il/oca-bin/ocashort?id=1W8A OCA].  

[[Category: Clout, N J.]]

[[Category: Howitt, J A.]]

''Page seeded by [http://oca.weizmann.ac.il/oca OCA ] on Thu Feb 21 15:41:29 2008''