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- ******************************
- * 'Trefoil' domain signature *
- ******************************
-
- A cysteine-rich domain of approximately forty five amino acid residues has
- been found in some proteins from different biological sources [1,2]. The
- 'trefoil' domain contains six cysteines that are most probably linked by three
- disulfide bonds. The proteins that are known to contain this domain are:
-
- - Pig Pancreatic Spasmolytic Polypeptide (PSP) [3], a protein of 106 residues
- that inhibits gastrointestinal motility and gastric acid secretion. PSP
- could also be a growth factor. PSP contains two copies of the 'trefoil'
- domain.
- - Human protein pS2 [4], a protein secreted by the stomach mucosa, whose gene
- is induced by estrogen. The exact function of pS2 is not known. pS2 is a
- protein of 84 residues (including a signal peptide of 21 residues). pS2
- contains one copy of the 'trefoil' domain.
- - Xenopus preprospasmolysin [5], a skin gland precursor protein of 400 amino
- acid residues. This protein contains 4 copies of the 'trefoil' domain. Two
- of these domains are in the N-terminal of the protein, while the two others
- are in the C-terminal end; the separating space consists of tandem
- threonine/proline-rich repeats. The function of this protein is not known.
- - Xenopus 'APEG' protein [6], a skin gland protein of about 400 amino acids
- that mostly consist of tandem repeats of the sequence G-[E/G]-[A/P](2,4)-A-
- E. This protein contains, at its C-terminal extremity, a copy of the
- 'trefoil' domain.
-
- Structurally the 'trefoil' domain can be represented as shown below.
-
- +-------------------------+
- | +--------------+|
- | | ||
- xxCxxxxxxRxxCG#xxxxxxxCxxxxCC#xxxxxxxxWC#xxxxxxxx
- *************|***** |
- | |
- +----------------+
-
- 'C': conserved cysteine involved in a disulfide bond.
- '#': large hydrophobic residue.
- '*': position of the pattern.
-
- -Consensus pattern: R-x(2)-C-G-[FY]-x(3)-[ST]-x(3)-C-x(4)-C
- -Sequences known to belong to this class detected by the pattern: ALL.
- -Other sequence(s) detected in SWISS-PROT: NONE.
-
- -Note: the residue in position 7 of the pattern is Pro, except in the third
- 'trefoil' domain of Xenopus preprospasmolysin, where it is replaced by Ile.
-
- -Last update: November 1990 / Text revised.
-
- [ 1] Thim L.
- FEBS Lett. 250:85-90(1989).
- [ 2] Baker M.E.
- Biochem. J. 253:307-308(1988).
- [ 3] Thim L., Thomsen J., Christensen M., Jorgensen K.H.
- Biochim. Biophys. Acta 827:410-418(1985).
- [ 4] Rio M.C., Bellocq J.P., Daniel J.Y., Tomasetto C., Lathe R.,
- Chenard M.P., Batzenschlager A., Chambon P.
- Science 241:705-708(1988).
- [ 5] Hoffmann W.
- J. Biol. Chem. 263:7686-7690(1988).
- [ 6] Gmachl M., Berger H., Thalhammer J., Kreil G.
- FEBS Lett. 260:145-148(1990).
-