Rapid Folding and Unfolding of Apaf-1 CARDRapid Folding and Unfolding of Apaf-1 CARD

Structural highlights

2p1h is a 1 chain structure with sequence from Homo sapiens. The September 2014 RCSB PDB Molecule of the Month feature on Apoptosomes by David Goodsell is 10.2210/rcsb_pdb/mom_2014_9. Full crystallographic information is available from OCA. For a guided tour on the structure components use FirstGlance.
Method:X-ray diffraction, Resolution 1.59Å
Ligands:
Resources:FirstGlance, OCA, PDBe, RCSB, PDBsum, ProSAT

Function

APAF_HUMAN Oligomeric Apaf-1 mediates the cytochrome c-dependent autocatalytic activation of pro-caspase-9 (Apaf-3), leading to the activation of caspase-3 and apoptosis. This activation requires ATP. Isoform 6 is less effective in inducing apoptosis.[1] [2]

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

Caspase recruitment domains (CARDs) are members of the death domain superfamily and contain six antiparallel helices in an alpha-helical Greek key topology. We have examined the equilibrium and kinetic folding of the CARD of Apaf-1 (apoptotic protease activating factor 1), which consists of 97 amino acid residues, at pH 6 and pH 8. The results showed that an apparent two state equilibrium mechanism is not adequate to describe the folding of Apaf-1 CARD at either pH, suggesting the presence of intermediates in equilibrium unfolding. Interestingly, the results showed that the secondary structure is less stable than the tertiary structure, based on the transition mid-points for unfolding. Single mixing and sequential mixing stopped-flow studies showed that Apaf-1 CARD folds and unfolds rapidly and suggest a folding mechanism that contains parallel channels with two unfolded conformations folding to the native conformation. Kinetic simulations show that a slow folding phase is described by a third conformation in the unfolded ensemble that interconverts with one or both unfolded species. Overall, the native ensemble is formed rapidly upon refolding. This is in contrast to other CARDs in which folding appears to be dominated by formation of kinetic traps.

Rapid folding and unfolding of Apaf-1 CARD.,Milam SL, Nicely NI, Feeney B, Mattos C, Clark AC J Mol Biol. 2007 May 25;369(1):290-304. Epub 2007 Mar 15. PMID:17408690[3]

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

See Also

References

  1. Hu Y, Benedict MA, Ding L, Nunez G. Role of cytochrome c and dATP/ATP hydrolysis in Apaf-1-mediated caspase-9 activation and apoptosis. EMBO J. 1999 Jul 1;18(13):3586-95. PMID:10393175 doi:10.1093/emboj/18.13.3586
  2. Ogawa T, Shiga K, Hashimoto S, Kobayashi T, Horii A, Furukawa T. APAF-1-ALT, a novel alternative splicing form of APAF-1, potentially causes impeded ability of undergoing DNA damage-induced apoptosis in the LNCaP human prostate cancer cell line. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2003 Jun 27;306(2):537-43. PMID:12804598
  3. Milam SL, Nicely NI, Feeney B, Mattos C, Clark AC. Rapid folding and unfolding of Apaf-1 CARD. J Mol Biol. 2007 May 25;369(1):290-304. Epub 2007 Mar 15. PMID:17408690 doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jmb.2007.02.105

2p1h, resolution 1.59Å

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