Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 17, 2026

Genome-wide Snapshot of Chromatin Regulators and States in Xenopus Embryos by ChIP-Seq
Published on: February 26, 2015
Identification of a positively evolving putative binding region with increased variability in posttranslational
1Institute of Anthropology, University of Mainz, Germany. herlyn@uni-mainz.de
Abstract:
Positive selection has been shown to be pervasive in sex-related proteins of many metazoan taxa. However, we are only beginning to understand molecular evolutionary processes on the lineage to humans. To elucidate the evolution of proteins involved in human reproduction, we studied the sequence evolution of MAM domains of the sperm-ligand zonadhesin in respect to single amino acid sites, solvent accessibility, and posttranslational modification. GenBank-data were supplemented by new cDNA-sequences of a representative non-human primate panel. Solvent accessibility predictions identified a probably exposed fragment of 30 amino acids belonging to MAM domain 2 (i.e., MAM domain 3 in mouse). The fragment is characterized by significantly increased rate of positively selected amino acid sites and exhibits high variability in predicted posttranslational modification, and, thus, might represent a binding region in the mature protein. At the same time, there is a significant coincidence of positively selected amino acid sites and non-conserved posttranslational motifs. We conclude that the binding specificity of zonadhesin MAM domains, especially of the presumed epitope, is achieved by positive selection at the level of single amino acid sites and posttranslational modifications, respectively.
More Related Videos
09:38Identification of Nucleolar Factors During HIV-1 Replication Through Rev Immunoprecipitation and Mass Spectrometry
Published on: June 26, 2019
06:38High Sensitivity Measurement of Transcription Factor-DNA Binding Affinities by Competitive Titration Using Fluorescence Microscopy
Published on: February 7, 2019
Related Concept Videos
Conserved Binding Sites
Binding sites are often located in large pockets, and if their location on a protein’s surface is unknown, it can be predicted using various approaches. The energetic method computationally analyses the...
Conserved Binding Sites
Binding sites are often located in large pockets, and if their location on a protein’s surface is unknown, it can be predicted using various approaches. The energetic method computationally analyses the...
Conservation of Protein Domains Over Different Proteins
A limited set of protein domains often duplicate and recombine during evolution. These domains can be organized in different combinations to form...
Single-Strand DNA Binding Proteins
Tension Response at Adherens Junctions
α-Catenin as a Mechanosensory Protein
The α-catenin of adherens junctions is an allosteric protein with three VH (vinculin homology) domains...
Mechanisms of Membrane Domain Formation
Another mechanism for membrane domain formation involves membrane proteins interacting with cytoskeletal...