Chen H, Johnson D, Finley J, Liu ZJ, Luo M, Zhao J, Carson M, DeLucas LJ, Tsao J, Lin G, Thomas W, Qiu SH, Luan CH, Wang BC, Sha B, Li S, Nagy LA
[
J Biol Chem,
2002]
Cytoskeleton-associated proteins (CAPs) are involved in the organization of microtubules and transportation of vesicles and organelles along the cytoskeletal network. A conserved motif, CAP-Gly, has been identified in a number of CAPs, including CLIP-170 and dynactins. The crystal structure of the CAP-Gly domain of Caenorhabditis elegans F53F4.3 protein, solved by single wavelength sulfur-anomalous phasing, revealed a novel protein fold containing three beta-sheets. The most conserved sequence, GKNDG, is located in two consecutive sharp turns on the surface, forming the entrance to a groove. Residues in the groove are highly conserved as measured from the information content of the aligned sequences. The C-terminal tail of another molecule in the crystal is bound in this groove.