Uncoupling FRUITFULL's functions through modification of a protein motif identified by co-ortholog analysis
Kai Thoris1, Miguel Correa Marrero2, Martijn Fiers3
1Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Wageningen University & Research, 6708 PB Wageningen, the Netherlands.
Abstract:
Many plant transcription factors (TFs) are multifunctional and regulate growth and development in more than one tissue. These TFs can generally associate with different protein partners depending on the tissue type, thereby regulating tissue-specific target gene sets. However, how interaction specificity is ensured is still largely unclear. Here, we examine protein-protein interaction specificity using subfunctionalized co-orthologs of the FRUITFULL (FUL) subfamily of MADS-domain TFs. In Arabidopsis, FUL is multifunctional, playing important roles in flowering and fruiting, whereas these functions have partially been divided in the tomato co-orthologs FUL1 and FUL2. By linking protein sequence and function, we discovered a key amino acid motif that determines interaction specificity of MADS-domain TFs, which in Arabidopsis FUL determines the interaction with AGAMOUS and SEPALLATA proteins, linked to the regulation of a subset of targets. This insight offers great opportunities to dissect the biological functions of multifunctional MADS TFs.
Related Concept Videos
Protein Complexes with Interchangeable Parts
The SCF ubiquitin ligase is a protein complex of five individual proteins. This complex attaches ubiquitin to other target proteins to mark them for degradation. In order...
Conservation of Protein Domains
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...
Protein Modifications in the RER
Broadly, these modifications can be categorized into four main categories — glycosylation, formation of disulfide bonds, assembly of protein subunits, and specific proteolytic cleavages like removal of signal...
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...
Fruit Development, Structure, and Function


