The conservation pattern of short linear motifs is highly correlated with the function of interacting protein domains
2008

Conservation of Short Linear Motifs in Protein Domains

Sample size: 7248 publication Evidence: high

Author Information

Author(s): Ren Siyuan, Yang Guang, He Youyu, Wang Yiguo, Li Yixue, Chen Zhengjun

Primary Institution: Chinese Academy of Sciences

Hypothesis

Combining scoring matrixes derived from peptide libraries and conservation analysis would discriminate between classes of proteins that have functional SLiMs and those that do not.

Conclusion

The conservation pattern of SLiMs recognized by SH2, SH3, PDZ, and S/T kinase domains highly correlates with the function of these domains.

Supporting Evidence

  • SLiMs recognized by SH2 domains are highly conserved in receptor kinases/phosphatases.
  • SLiMs recognized by SH3 domains are highly conserved in cytoskeletal proteins.
  • SLiMs recognized by PDZ domains are highly conserved in membrane proteins.
  • SLiMs recognized by S/T kinase domains are highly conserved in proteins involved in transcription.

Takeaway

This study shows that tiny parts of proteins, called SLiMs, are very similar across different proteins that work together, helping scientists understand how proteins interact.

Methodology

The study combined scoring matrixes from peptide libraries and conservation analysis to identify protein classes enriched with functional SLiMs.

Potential Biases

Potential bias in motif prediction due to reliance on in vitro techniques.

Limitations

The method may be biased due to differences between in vitro and in vivo conditions and assumes equal contribution of each SLiM position to binding.

Participant Demographics

Human proteins were selected based on SwissProt annotations and functional classifications.

Statistical Information

P-Value

0.0001

Statistical Significance

p < 0.0001

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1186/1471-2164-9-452

Want to read the original?

Access the complete publication on the publisher's website

View Original Publication