Self-Regulation of Functional Pathways by Motifs Inside the Disordered Tails of Beta-Catenin

Authors

Bi Zhao, University of South Florida
Bin Xue, University of South FloridaFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2016

Keywords

Beta-Catenin, Wnt signaling pathway, Cadherin junction formation, Intrinsic disorder, Auto-regulation

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-016-2825-9

Abstract

Background: Beta-catenin has two major functions: coordinating cell-cell adhesion by interacting with cadherin in cadherin junction formation pathway; and regulating gene expression through Wnt signaling pathway. Accomplishing these two functions requires synergistic action of various sequential regions of the same beta-Catenin molecule, including the N-terminal tail, the middle armadillo domain, and the C-terminal tail. Although the middle armadillo domain is the major functional unit of beta-Catenin, the involvement of tails in the regulation of interacti on between beta-Catenin and its partners has been well observed. Nonetheless, the regulatory processes of both tails are still elusive. In addition, it is interesting to note that the three sequential regions have different structural features: The middle armadillo domain is structured, but both N- and C-terminal tails are disordered. This observation leads to another important question on the functions and mechanisms of disordered tails, which is also largely unknown.

Results: In this study, we focused on the characterization of se quential, structural, and functional features of the disordered tails of beta-Catenin. We identified multiple functional motifs and conserved sequence motifs in the disordered tails, discovered the correlation between cancer-associated mutations and functional motifs, explored the abundance of protein intrinsic disorder in the interactomes of beta-Catenin, and elaborated a working model on the regulatory roles of disordered tails in the functional pathways of beta-Catenin.

Conclusion: Disordered tails of beta-Catenin contain multip le functional motifs. These motifs interact with each other and the armadillo domain of beta-catenin to regulate the function of beta-Catenin in both cadherin junction formation pat hway and Wnt signaling pathway.

Rights Information

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Was this content written or created while at USF?

Yes

Citation / Publisher Attribution

BMC Genomics, v. 17, Suppl. 5, art. 484

Scholar Commons Citation

Zhao, Bi and Xue, Bin, "Self-Regulation of Functional Pathways by Motifs Inside the Disordered Tails of Beta-Catenin" (2016). Molecular Biosciences Faculty Publications. 18.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/bcm_facpub/18