Journal article
Structural and functional analysis of Aplysia attractins, a family of water-borne protein pheromones with interspecific attractiveness
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Vol.101(18), pp.6929-6933
2004
Abstract
Mate attraction in Aplysia involves a long-distance water-borne signal (the protein pheromone attractin), which is released during egg laying. Aplysia californica attractin attracts species that produce closely related attractins, such as Aplysia brasiliana, whose geographic distribution does not overlap that of A. californica. This finding suggests that other mollusks release attractin-related pheromones to form and maintain breeding aggregations. We describe four additional members of the attractin family: A. brasiliana, Aplysia fasciata, Aplysia depilans (which aggregates with A. fasciata aggregations), and Aplysia vaccaria (which aggregates with A. californica aggregations). On the basis of their sequence similarity with A. californica attractin, the attractin proteins fall into two groups: A. californica, A. brasiliana, and A. fasciata (91-95% identity), and A. depilans and A. vaccaria (41-43% identity). The sequence similarity within the attractin family, the conserved six cysteines, and the compact fold of the NMR solution structure of A. californica attractin suggest a common fold for this pheromone family containing two antiparallel helices. The second helix contains the IEECKTS sequence conserved in Aplysia attractins. Mutating surface-exposed charged residues within this heptapeptide sequence abolishes attractin activity, suggesting that the second helix is an essential part of the receptor-binding interface.
Details
- Title
- Structural and functional analysis of Aplysia attractins, a family of water-borne protein pheromones with interspecific attractiveness
- Authors
- S D Painter (Author) - University of Texas Medical Branch, United StatesScott F Cummins (Author) - University of Texas Medical Branch, United StatesA E Nichols (Author) - University of Texas Medical Branch, United StatesD B G Akalal (Author) - University of Texas Medical Branch, United StatesC H Schein (Author) - University of Texas Medical Branch, United StatesW Braun (Author) - University of Texas Medical Branch, United StatesJ S Smith (Author) - University of Texas Medical Branch, United StatesA J Susswein (Author) - Bar Ilan University, IsraelM Levy (Author) - Bar Ilan University, IsraelP A C M De Boer (Author) - Free University, NetherlandsA Ter Maat (Author) - Free University, NetherlandsM W Miller (Author) - University of Puerto Rico, Puerto RicoC Scanlan (Author) - University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, United StatesR M Milberg (Author) - University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, United StatesJ V Sweedler (Author) - University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, United StatesG T Nagle (Author) - University of Texas Medical Branch, United States
- Publication details
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Vol.101(18), pp.6929-6933
- Publisher
- National Academy of Sciences
- Date published
- 2004
- DOI
- 10.1073/pnas.0306339101
- ISSN
- 0027-8424
- Organisation Unit
- School of Science and Engineering - Legacy; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; School of Science, Technology and Engineering; Centre for Bioinnovation
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99451095602621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- International collaboration
- Web Of Science research areas
- Biochemistry & Molecular Biology