Ryter Jodi M, Doe Chris Q, Matthews Brian W
Institute of Molecular Biology, Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Department of Physics, 1229 University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403, USA.
Structure. 2002 Nov;10(11):1541-9. doi: 10.1016/s0969-2126(02)00883-3.
The Prospero transcription factor promotes neural differentiation in Drosophila, and its activity is tightly regulated by modulating its subcellular localization. Prospero is exported from the nucleus of neural precursors but imported into the nucleus of daughter cells, which is necessary for their proper differentiation. Prospero has a highly divergent putative homeodomain adjacent to a conserved Prospero domain; both are required for sequence-specific DNA binding. Here we show that the structure of these two regions consists of a single structural unit (a homeo-prospero domain), in which the Prospero domain region is in position to contribute to DNA binding and also to mask a defined nuclear export signal that is within the putative homeodomain region. We propose that the homeo-prospero domain coordinately regulates Prospero nuclear localization and DNA binding specificity.
Prospero转录因子促进果蝇的神经分化，其活性通过调节亚细胞定位受到严格调控。Prospero从神经前体细胞的细胞核输出，但被导入子细胞的细胞核，这对它们的正常分化是必需的。Prospero在一个保守的Prospero结构域附近有一个高度不同的假定同源结构域；两者都是序列特异性DNA结合所必需的。在这里，我们表明这两个区域的结构由一个单一的结构单元（一个同源Prospero结构域）组成，其中Prospero结构域区域有助于DNA结合，并且还掩盖了假定同源结构域区域内一个明确的核输出信号。我们提出同源Prospero结构域协同调节Prospero的核定位和DNA结合特异性。
