Isogai, S., Kanno, S., Ariyoshi, M., Tochio, H., Ito, Y., Yasui, A., Shirakawa, M. (2010). Solution structure of a zinc-finger domain that binds to poly-ADP-ribose.  Genes Cells 15(2): 101--110.

FBrf0209897

Research paper

Poly-ADP-ribosylation is a unique post-translational modification that controls various nuclear events such as repair of DNA single-strand breaks. Recently, the protein containing the poly-ADP-ribose (pADPr)-binding zinc-finger (PBZ) domain was shown to be a novel AP endonuclease and involved in a cell cycle checkpoint. Here, we determined the three-dimensional structure of the PBZ domain from Drosophila melanogaster CG1218-PA using NMR spectroscopy. The domain folds into a C2H2-type zinc-finger structure in an S configuration, containing a characteristic loop between the zinc-coordinating cysteine and histidine residues. This is distinct from the structure of other C2H2-type zinc fingers. NMR signal changes that occur when pADPr binds to the PBZ domains from CG1218-PA and human checkpoint with FHA (forkhead-associated) and ring finger (CHFR) and mutagenesis suggest that a surface relatively well conserved among PBZ domains may serve as a major interface with pADPr.