Structural highlights
Function
[BAZ2A_HUMAN] Essential component of the NoRC (nucleolar remodeling complex) complex, a complex that mediates silencing of a fraction of rDNA by recruiting histone-modifying enzymes and DNA methyltransferases, leading to heterochromatin formation and transcriptional silencing. In the complex, it plays a central role by being recruited to rDNA and by targeting chromatin modifying enzymes such as HDAC1, leading to repress RNA polymerase I transcription. Recruited to rDNA via its interaction with TTF1 and its ability to recognize and bind histone H4 acetylated on 'Lys-16' (H4K16ac), leading to deacetylation of H4K5ac, H4K8ac, H4K12ac but not H4K16ac. Specifically binds pRNAs, 150-250 nucleotide RNAs that are complementary in sequence to the rDNA promoter; pRNA-binding is required for heterochromatin formation and rDNA silencing (By similarity).
Publication Abstract from PubMed
Plant homeodomain (PHD) zinc fingers are histone reader domains that are often associated with human diseases. Despite this, they constitute a poorly targeted class of readers, suggesting low ligandability. Here, we describe a successful fragment-based campaign targeting PHD fingers from the proteins BAZ2A and BAZ2B as model systems. We validated a pool of in silico fragments both biophysically and structurally and solved the first crystal structures of PHD zinc fingers in complex with fragments bound to an anchoring pocket at the histone binding site. The best-validated hits were found to displace a histone H3 tail peptide in competition assays. This work identifies new chemical scaffolds that provide suitable starting points for future ligand optimization using structure-guided approaches. The demonstrated ligandability of the PHD reader domains could pave the way for the development of chemical probes to drug this family of epigenetic readers.
Targeting Ligandable Pockets on Plant Homeodomain (PHD) Zinc Finger Domains by a Fragment-Based Approach.,Amato A, Lucas X, Bortoluzzi A, Wright D, Ciulli A ACS Chem Biol. 2018 Mar 20. doi: 10.1021/acschembio.7b01093. PMID:29529862[1]
From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.
References
- ↑ Amato A, Lucas X, Bortoluzzi A, Wright D, Ciulli A. Targeting Ligandable Pockets on Plant Homeodomain (PHD) Zinc Finger Domains by a Fragment-Based Approach. ACS Chem Biol. 2018 Mar 20. doi: 10.1021/acschembio.7b01093. PMID:29529862 doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acschembio.7b01093
