Browsing by Author "Strasser, A."

The nuclear import of spliceosomal UsnRNPs is mediated by the transport adaptor snurportin 1 (SPN1), which specifically recognizes the 2,2,7-trimethylguanosine (m(3)G) cap at the 5' end of UsnRNAs. Human SPN1 was overexpressed as a GST-fusion protein in Escherichia coli and purified to homogeneity Since full-length SPN1 did not crystallize, limited proteolysis experiments were performed and stable digestion products were analyzed for functionality with respect to m(3)G cap-binding activity and subsequently used for crystallization trials. Well diffracting single crystals of a truncated SPN1 m(3)G cap-binding domain (residues 79-300) were obtained after two rounds of seeding. The crystals belong to space group P4(1)2(1)2 or P4(3)2(1)2, with unit-cell parameters a = b = 57.47, c = 130.09 Angstrom, alpha = beta = gamma = 90degrees. Crystals contain one molecule in the asymmetric unit and diffract to a resolution limit of 2.9 Angstrom.

In higher eukaryotes the biogenesis of spliceosomal UsnRNPs involves a nucleocytoplasmic shuttling cycle. After the m(7) G-cap-dependent export of the snRNAs U1, U2, U4 and U5 to the cytoplasm, each of these snRNAs associates with seven Sm proteins. Subsequently, the m(7)G-cap is hypermethylated to the 2,2,7-trimethylguanosine (m(3)G)-cap. The import adaptor snurportin1 recognises the m(3)G-cap and facilitates the nuclear import of the UsnRNPs by binding to importin-beta. Here we report the crystal structure of the m(3)G-cap-binding domain of snurportin1 with bound m(3)GpppG at 2.4 angstrom resolution, revealing a structural similarity to the mRNA-guanylytransferase. Snurportin1 binds both the hypermethylated cap and the first nucleotide of the RNA in a stacked conformation. This binding mode differs significantly from that of the m(7)G-cap-binding proteins Cap-binding protein 20 (CBP20), eukaryotic initiation factor 4E (eIF4E) and viral protein 39 (VP39). The specificity of the m(3)G-cap recognition by snurportin1 was evaluated by fluorescence spectroscopy, demonstrating the importance of a highly solvent exposed tryptophan for the discrimination of m(7)G-capped RNAs. The critical role of this tryptophan and as well of a tryptophan continuing the RNA base stack was confirmed by nuclear import assays and cap-binding activity tests using several snurportin1 mutants.