Molecular Biology and Evolution, Vol 13, 990-998, Copyright © 1996 by Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution
A Karabinos, D Bhattacharya, C Morys-Wortmann, K Kroll, G Hirschfeld, HD Kratzin, S Barnikol-Watanabe and N Hilschmann
The human protein NEFA (DNA binding, EF-hand, Acidic region) has previously
been isolated from a KM3 cell line and immunolocalized on the plasma
membrane, in the cytoplasma, and in the culture medium. Sequence analysis
of a cDNA clone encoding NEFA identified a hydrophilic domain, two
EF-hands, and a leucine zipper at the C- terminus. These characters are
shared with nucleobindin (Nuc). In this paper we have further characterized
NEFA and probed its evolutionary origins. Circular dichroism (CD) spectra
of recombinant NEFA indicated a helical content of 51% and showed that the
EF-hands are capable of binding Ca2+. Experiments with recombinant NEFA and
synthesized peptides revealed that the leucine zipper cannot form a
homodimer. The leucine zipper may allow heterodimer formation of NEFA and
an unknown protein. Phylogenetic analyses suggest that this protein is
derived from a four-domain EF-hand ancestor with subsequent duplications
and fusions. The leucine zipper and putative DNA-binding domains of NEFA
have evolved secondarily from existing EF-hand sequences. These analyses
provide insights into how complex proteins may originate and trace the
precursor of NEFA to the common ancestor of eukaryotes.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
The divergent domains of the NEFA and nucleobindin proteins are derived from an EF-hand ancestor
Department of Immunochemistry, Max Planck Institute for Experimental Medicine, Gottingen, Germany.
![]()
CiteULike
Connotea
Del.icio.us What's this?