The EMBO Journal
 
Advanced search
Journal home
Current issue
Advance Online Publication
Web Focuses
Archive
Browse by subject
Free online sample issue
Aims and scope
Press releases
ToC by email
Authors & Referees
Guide for authors
Submit an Article
Guide for referees
Editorial Team, Senior Advisors and Advisory Editorial Board
Contact Editorial office
Customer services
Subscribe
Order sample copy
Purchase articles
Reprints and permissions
Contact NPG
Advertising
EMBO
www.embo.org
Article
Subject Categories: Structural Biology | Cell Cycle
The EMBO Journal (2005) 24, 261–269, doi:10.1038/sj.emboj.7600529
Published online 23 December 2004
Structural insights into the EB1–APC interaction
Srinivas Honnappa1, 3, Corinne M John1, 2, 3, Dirk Kostrewa1, Fritz K Winkler1 and Michel O Steinmetz1
1 Biomolecular Research, Structural Biology, Paul Scherrer Institut, Villigen PSI, Switzerland
2 Institute of Biochemistry, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zürich, Switzerland

To whom correspondence should be addressed
Michel O Steinmetz, Paul Scherrer Institut, 5232 Villigen PSI, Switzerland. Tel.: +41 56 310 4754; Fax: +41 61 310 5288; E-mail: michel.steinmetz@psi.ch

3 These authors contributed equally to this work

Received 22 September 2004; Accepted 30 November 2004; Published online 23 December 2004.
Abstract
EB1 proteins bind to microtubule ends where they act in concert with other components, including the adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) tumor suppressor, to regulate the microtubule filament system. We find that EB1 is a stable dimer with a parallel coiled coil and show that dimerization is essential for the formation of its C-terminal domain (EB1-C). The crystal structure of EB1-C reveals a highly conserved surface patch with a deep hydrophobic cavity at its center. EB1-C binds two copies of an APC-derived C-terminal peptide (C-APCp1) with equal 5 muM affinity. The conserved APC Ile2805–Pro2806 sequence motif serves as an anchor for the interaction of C-APCp1 with the hydrophobic cavity of EB1-C. Phosphorylation of the conserved Cdc2 site Ser2789–Lys2792 in C-APCp1 reduces binding four-fold, indicating that the interaction APC–EB1 is post-translationally regulated in cells. Our findings provide a basis for understanding the dynamic crosstalk of EB1 proteins with their molecular targets in eukaryotic organisms.
Keywords: coiled coil, microtubule plus-end tracking proteins, phosphorylation, protein–protein interaction, +TIP
Top

MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS

These links to content published by NPG are automatically generated

NEWS AND VIEWS

Teaching tumour suppressors new tricks

Nature Cell Biology News and Views (01 Apr 2000)

Send to a friendEmail link to a friend
PDFDownload PDF
Full textFull text
Next article
Previous article
Table of contents
rights and permissionsRights and permissions
order commercial reprintsReprints
ToC alertRegister for table of contents by email
  Privacy policy Copyright © 2005 by the European Molecular Biology Organization