Dissemin is shutting down on January 1st, 2025

Published in

Nature Research, Communications Biology, 1(5), 2022

DOI: 10.1038/s42003-022-03354-4

Links

Tools

Export citation

Search in Google Scholar

Phase separation driven by interchangeable properties in the intrinsically disordered regions of protein paralogs

Journal article published in 2022 by Shih-Hui Chiu, Wen-Lin Ho, Yung-Chen Sun ORCID, Jean-Cheng Kuo, Jie-Rong Huang ORCID
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

Full text: Download

Green circle
Preprint: archiving allowed
Red circle
Postprint: archiving forbidden
Green circle
Published version: archiving allowed
Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

AbstractParalogs, arising from gene duplications, increase the functional diversity of proteins. Protein functions in paralog families have been extensively studied, but little is known about the roles that intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs) play in their paralogs. Without a folded structure to restrain them, IDRs mutate more diversely along with evolution. However, how the diversity of IDRs in a paralog family affects their functions is unexplored. Using the RNA-binding protein Musashi family as an example, we applied multiple structural techniques and phylogenetic analysis to show how members in a paralog family have evolved their IDRs to different physicochemical properties but converge to the same function. In this example, the lower prion-like tendency of Musashi-1’s IDRs, rather than Musashi-2’s, is compensated by its higher α-helical propensity to assist their assembly. Our work suggests that, no matter how diverse they become, IDRs could evolve different traits to a converged function, such as liquid-liquid phase separation.