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. 1992 Apr;11(4):1543–1551. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1992.tb05199.x

The methionine-rich domain of the 54 kDa subunit of signal recognition particle is sufficient for the interaction with signal sequences.

H Lütcke 1, S High 1, K Römisch 1, A J Ashford 1, B Dobberstein 1
PMCID: PMC556603  PMID: 1314169

Abstract

The signal recognition particle (SRP) binds to signal sequences when they emerge from a translating ribosome and targets the complex of ribosome, nascent chain and SRP to the membrane of the rough endoplasmic reticulum (rER) allowing the co-translational translocation of the nascent chain. By photo-crosslinking it has been shown that the signal sequence of preprolactin (PPL) only interacts with the methionine-rich (M) domain of the 54 kDa protein subunit (SRP54) of SRP. Here we show that (i) a signal-anchor sequence is likewise crosslinked only to the methionine-rich domain of SRP54, (ii) free SRP54 can interact with signal sequences independently of the other components of SRP, (iii) its M domain suffices to perform this function, and (iv) an essentially intact M domain is required for signal sequence recognition. Alkylation of the N+G domain in intact SRP54 with N-ethyl maleimide (NEM), but not after cleavage with V8 protease, prevents the binding of a signal sequence to the M domain. This suggests a proximity between the N+G and M domains of SRP54 and raises the possibility that the role of the N+G domain may be to regulate the binding and/or the release of signal sequences.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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