Two RNA-binding domains determine the RNA-binding specificity of nucleolin

Nucleolin is an abundant nucleolar RNA-binding protein that seems to be involved in many aspects of ribosome biogenesis. Nucleolin contains four copies of a consensus RNA-binding domain (CS-RBD) found in several other proteins. In vitro RNA-binding studies previously determined that nucleolin interacts specifically with a short RNA stem-loop structure. Taken individually, none of the four CS-RBDs interacts significantly with the RNA target, but a peptide that contains the first two adjacent CS-RBDs (R12) is sufficient to account for nucleolin RNA-binding specificity and affinity. The full integrity of these two domains is required, since N- or C-terminal deletion abolishes the specific interaction with the RNA. Mutation of conserved amino acids within the RNP-1 sequence of CS-RBD 1 or 2 drastically reduces the interaction with the RNA, whereas mutation of the analogous residues in CS-RBDs 3 and 4 has no effect in the context of the R1234G protein (which corresponds to the C-terminal end of nucleolin). Our results demonstrate that nucleolin RNA-binding specificity is the result of a cooperation between two CS-RBDs (RBDs 1 and 2) and also suggests a direct or indirect involvement of the RNP-1 consensus sequence of both CS-RBDs in the recognition of the RNA target.