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Published on: March 19, 2014
The laminin-binding domain of agrin is structurally related to N-TIMP-1
J Stetefeld1, M Jenny, T Schulthess
1Department of Biophysical Chemistry, Biozentrum, University of Basel, Klingelbergstrasse 70, CH-4056 Basel, Switzerland.
Abstract:
Agrin is the key organizer of postsynaptic differentiation at the neuromuscular junction. This organization activity requires the binding of agrin to the synaptic basal lamina. Binding is conferred by the N-terminal agrin (NtA) domain, which mediates a high-affinity interaction with the coiled coil domain of laminins. Here, we report the crystal structure of chicken NtA at 1.6 A resolution. The structure reveals that NtA harbors an oligosaccharide/oligonucleotide-binding fold with several possible sites for the interaction with different ligands. A high structural similarity of NtA with the protease inhibition domain in tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases-1 (TIMP-1) supports the idea of additional functions of agrin besides synaptogenic activity.
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