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Publication Abstract from PubMed

Human Cellular Retinol Binding Protein II (hCRBPII), a member of the intracellular lipid-binding protein family, is a monomeric protein responsible for the intracellular transport of retinol and retinal. Herein we report that hCRBPII forms an extensive domain-swapped dimer during bacterial expression. The domain-swapped region encompasses almost half of the protein. The dimer represents a novel structural architecture with the mouths of the two binding cavities facing each other, producing a new binding cavity that spans the length of the protein complex. Although wild-type hCRBPII forms the dimer, the propensity for dimerization can be substantially increased via mutation at Tyr60. The monomeric form of the wild-type protein represents the thermodynamically more stable species, making the domain-swapped dimer a kinetically trapped entity. Hypothetically, the wild-type protein has evolved to minimize dimerization of the folding intermediate through a critical hydrogen bond (Tyr60-Glu72) that disfavors the dimeric form.

Domain-Swapped Dimers of Intracellular Lipid-Binding Proteins: Evidence for Ordered Folding Intermediates.,Assar Z, Nossoni Z, Wang W, Santos EM, Kramer K, McCornack C, Vasileiou C, Borhan B, Geiger JH Structure. 2016 Sep 6;24(9):1590-8. doi: 10.1016/j.str.2016.05.022. Epub 2016 Aug, 11. PMID:27524203^[1]

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.