Structural highlights
Evolutionary Conservation Check, as determined by ConSurfDB. You may read the explanation of the method and the full data available from ConSurf. Publication Abstract from PubMedB cell activating factor (BAFF), a ligand belonging to the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) family, plays a critical role in regulating survival and activation of peripheral B cell populations and has been associated with autoimmune disease. BAFF is known to interact with three receptors, BCMA, TACI and BAFF-R, that have distant similarities with other receptors of the TNF family. We have determined the crystal structure of the TNF-homologous domain of BAFF at 2.8 A resolution. The structure reveals significant differences when compared to other TNF family members, including an unusually long D-E loop that participates in the formation of a deep, concave and negatively charged region in the putative receptor binding site. The BAFF structure was further used to generate a homology model of APRIL, a closely related TNF family ligand that also binds to BCMA and TACI, but not BAFF-R. Analysis of the putative receptor binding sites of BAFF and APRIL suggests that differences in the D-E loop structure and electrostatic surface potentials may be important for determining binding specificities for BCMA, TACI and BAFF-R. Crystal structure of extracellular human BAFF, a TNF family member that stimulates B lymphocytes.,Karpusas M, Cachero TG, Qian F, Boriack-Sjodin A, Mullen C, Strauch K, Hsu YM, Kalled SL J Mol Biol. 2002 Feb 1;315(5):1145-54. PMID:11827482[1] From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. References
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