Borden K L
Department of Physiology & Biophysics, Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY, 10029, USA.
J Mol Biol. 2000 Feb 4;295(5):1103-12. doi: 10.1006/jmbi.1999.3429.
Intense interest in the RING domain has arisen because of its widespread occurrence and involvement in human disease. Several intriguing characteristics evident from the study of this cysteine-rich, zinc-binding domain have made it difficult to establish a single defining biochemical function for RINGs. These proteins are found throughout the cell and mediate diverse cellular processes, e.g. oncogenesis, apoptosis, development and viral infection. Recent developments indicate that RING-mediated protein interactions are critical for transcriptional repression and for ubiquitination. These data are in addition to previously established functions for RINGs in RNA processing, cell-cycle control and peroxisomal biogenesis, to name a few. At first glance, there appears to be little to link such disparate actions. Collectively, these results suggest that RINGs function in formation and architecture of large protein complexes that contribute to diverse cellular processes. Here, new developments, in the context of previous results, are discussed in an attempt to establish a unifying theory for RING function.
由于RING结构域广泛存在并与人类疾病相关，人们对其产生了浓厚的兴趣。对这个富含半胱氨酸、结合锌的结构域的研究揭示了几个有趣的特征，这使得难以确定RING结构域单一明确的生化功能。这些蛋白质存在于整个细胞中，并介导多种细胞过程，例如肿瘤发生、细胞凋亡、发育和病毒感染。最近的研究进展表明，RING介导的蛋白质相互作用对于转录抑制和泛素化至关重要。这些数据补充了之前已确定的RING结构域在RNA加工、细胞周期控制和过氧化物酶体生物发生等方面的功能。乍一看，似乎没有什么能将这些不同的作用联系起来。总体而言，这些结果表明，RING结构域在大型蛋白质复合物的形成和结构中发挥作用，这些复合物有助于多种细胞过程。在此，结合之前的研究结果，讨论新的进展，试图建立一个关于RING功能的统一理论。
