Nucleic acid binding of the RTN1-C C-terminal region: toward the functional role of a reticulon protein.

RTN1-C protein is a membrane protein localized in the ER and expressed in the nervous system. Its biological role is still unclear, although interactions of the N-terminal region of RTN1-C with proteins involved in vesicle trafficking have been observed, but the role of the C-terminal region of this family protein ...
remains to be investigated. By a homology analysis of the amino acid sequence, we identified in the C-terminal region of RTN1-C a unique consensus sequence characteristic of H4 histone protein. Thus, a 23-mer peptide (RTN1-C(CT)) corresponding to residues 186-208 of RTN1-C was synthesized, and its conformation and its interaction with nucleic acids were investigated. Here we demonstrate the strong ability of RTN1-C(CT) peptide to bind and condense the nucleic acids using electrophoretic and spectroscopic techniques. To determine if the binding of RTN1-C to nucleic acids could be regulated in vivo by an acetylation-deacetylation mechanism, as for the histone proteins, we studied the interaction of RTN1-C with one zinc-dependent histone deacetylase (HDAC) enzyme, HDAC8, with fluorescence and kinetic techniques using an acetylated form of RTN1-C(CT). The results reported here allow us to propose that the nucleic acid binding property of RTN1-C may have an important role in the biological function of this protein, the function of which could be regulated by an acetylation-deacetylation mechanism.
Mesh Terms:
Amino Acid Motifs, Amino Acid Sequence, Binding Sites, Biophysical Processes, Consensus Sequence, DNA, DNA, Bacterial, Escherichia coli, Humans, Molecular Sequence Data, Nerve Tissue Proteins, Protein Binding, Protein Conformation, Protein Processing, Post-Translational, Protein Structure, Secondary, Proteins, RNA, RNA, Bacterial
Biochemistry
Date: Jan. 20, 2009
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