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Updated: Jun 1, 2026

Reconstitution of Msp1 Extraction Activity with Fully Purified Components
Published on: August 10, 2021
A conserved archaeal pathway for tail-anchored membrane protein insertion
John Sherrill1, Malaiyalam Mariappan, Pawel Dominik
1Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, University of Chicago, Gordon Center for Integrative Science, Room W238, Chicago, IL 60637, USA.
Abstract:
Eukaryotic tail-anchored (TA) membrane proteins are inserted into the endoplasmic reticulum by a post-translational TRC40 pathway, but no comparable pathway is known in other domains of life. The crystal structure of an archaebacterial TRC40 sequence homolog bound to ADP•AlF(4) (-) reveals characteristic features of eukaryotic TRC40, including a zinc-mediated dimer and a large hydrophobic groove. Moreover, archaeal TRC40 interacts with the transmembrane domain of TA substrates and directs their membrane insertion. Thus, the TRC40 pathway is more broadly conserved than previously recognized.
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