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Updated: Jun 28, 2026

Engineering Artificial Factors to Specifically Manipulate Alternative Splicing in Human Cells
Published on: April 26, 2017
Dimerization and protein binding specificity of the U2AF homology motif of the splicing factor Puf60
Lorenzo Corsini1, Michael Hothorn1, Gunter Stier1
1Structural and Computational Biology Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Meyerhofstrasse 1, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany, the Institute of Structural Biology, Helmholtz Zentrum Mu¨nchen, Ingolsta¨dter Landstrasse 1, 85764 Neuherberg, Germany, and the Munich Center for Integrated Protein Science and Chair Biomolecular NMR, Department Chemie, Technische Universita¨t Mu¨nchen, Lichtenbergstrasse 4, 85747 Garching, Germany.
Abstract:
PUF60 is an essential splicing factor functionally related and homologous to U2AF(65). Its C-terminal domain belongs to the family of U2AF (U2 auxiliary factor) homology motifs (UHM), a subgroup of RNA recognition motifs that bind to tryptophan-containing linear peptide motifs (UHM ligand motifs, ULMs) in several nuclear proteins. Here, we show that the Puf60 UHM is mainly monomeric in physiological buffer, whereas its dimerization is induced upon the addition of SDS. The crystal structure of PUF60-UHM at 2.2 angstroms resolution, NMR data, and mutational analysis reveal that the dimer interface is mediated by electrostatic interactions involving a flexible loop. Using glutathione S-transferase pulldown experiments, isothermal titration calorimetry, and NMR titrations, we find that Puf60-UHM binds to ULM sequences in the splicing factors SF1, U2AF65, and SF3b155. Compared with U2AF65-UHM, Puf60-UHM has distinct binding preferences to ULMs in the N terminus of SF3b155. Our data suggest that the functional cooperativity between U2AF65 and Puf60 may involve simultaneous interactions of the two proteins with SF3b155.
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