Structural highlights
Disease
[PRIO_SHEEP] Note=Polymorphism at position 171 may be related to the alleles of scrapie incubation-control (SIC) gene in this species. Note=Found in high quantity in the brain of humans and animals infected with degenerative neurological diseases such as kuru, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), Gerstmann-Straussler syndrome (GSS), scrapie, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), transmissible mink encephalopathy (TME), etc. Note=Scrapie is a transmissible neurodegenerative disorder of sheep and goats. Most sheep that contract the disease naturally die between 24 and 50 months of age. The incubation period in sheep depends on the strain(s) of the infecting pathogen, sheep age at exposure, and the sheep genotype. The survival time is mainly determined by a single genetic locus, SIP, which has two alleles, susceptible (sa) and resistant (pa). Short incubation period is conferred by the partially dominant sa allele. Scrapie can be spread between flockmates, or it can be transmitted from an infected ewe to its lamb.
Function
[PRIO_SHEEP] May play a role in neuronal development and synaptic plasticity. May be required for neuronal myelin sheath maintenance. May play a role in iron uptake and iron homeostasis. Soluble oligomers are toxic to cultured neuroblastoma cells and induce apoptosis (in vitro). Association with GPC1 (via its heparan sulfate chains) targets PRNP to lipid rafts. Also provides Cu(2+) or ZN(2+) for the ascorbate-mediated GPC1 deaminase degradation of its heparan sulfate side chains (By similarity).
Evolutionary Conservation
Check, as determined by ConSurfDB. You may read the explanation of the method and the full data available from ConSurf.
Publication Abstract from PubMed
The prion protein PrP is a naturally occurring polypeptide that becomes transformed from a normal conformation to that of an aggregated form, characteristic of pathological states in fatal transmissible spongiform conditions such as Creutzfeld-Jacob Disease and Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy. We report the crystal structure, at 2 A resolution, of residues 123-230 of the C-terminal globular domain of the ARQ allele of sheep prion protein (PrP). The asymmetric unit contains a single molecule whose secondary structure and overall organisation correspond to those structures of PrPs from various mammalian species determined by NMR. The globular domain shows a close association of helix-1, the C-terminal portion of helix-2 and the N-terminal portion of helix-3, bounded by the intramolecular disulphide bond, 179-214. The loop 164-177, between beta2 and helix-2 is relatively well structured compared to the human PrP NMR structure. Analysis of the sheep PrP structure identifies two possible loci for the initiation of beta-sheet mediated polymerisation. One of these comprises the beta-strand, residues 129-131 that forms an intra-molecular beta-sheet with residues 161-163. This strand is involved in lattice contacts about a crystal dyad to generate a four-stranded intermolecular beta-sheet between neighbouring molecules. The second locus involves the region 188-204, which modelling suggests is able to undergo a partial alpha-->beta switch within the monomer. These loci provide sites within the PrPc monomer that could readily give rise to early intermediate species on the pathway to the formation of aggregated PrPSc containing additional intermolecular beta-structure.
The crystal structure of the globular domain of sheep prion protein.,Haire LF, Whyte SM, Vasisht N, Gill AC, Verma C, Dodson EJ, Dodson GG, Bayley PM J Mol Biol. 2004 Mar 5;336(5):1175-83. PMID:15037077[1]
From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.
See Also
References
- ↑ Haire LF, Whyte SM, Vasisht N, Gill AC, Verma C, Dodson EJ, Dodson GG, Bayley PM. The crystal structure of the globular domain of sheep prion protein. J Mol Biol. 2004 Mar 5;336(5):1175-83. PMID:15037077 doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jmb.2003.12.059
