TGIF1 homeodomain interacts with Smad MH1 domain and represses TGF-beta signaling.
Guca, E., Sunol, D., Ruiz, L., Konkol, A., Cordero, J., Torner, C., Aragon, E., Martin-Malpartida, P., Riera, A., Macias, M.J.(2018) Nucleic Acids Res 46: 9220-9235
- PubMed: 30060237 
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gky680
- Primary Citation of Related Structures:  
6FQP, 6FQQ - PubMed Abstract: 
TGIF1 is a multifunctional protein that represses TGF-β-activated transcription by interacting with Smad2-Smad4 complexes. We found that the complex structure of TGIF1-HD bound to the TGACA motif revealed a combined binding mode that involves the HD core and the major groove, on the one hand, and the amino-terminal (N-term) arm and the minor groove of the DNA, on the other. We also show that TGIF1-HD interacts with the MH1 domain of Smad proteins, thereby indicating that TGIF1-HD is also a protein-binding domain. Moreover, the formation of the HD-MH1 complex partially hinders the DNA-binding site of the complex, preventing the efficient interaction of TGIF1-HD with DNA. We propose that the binding of the TGIF1 C-term to the Smad2-MH2 domain brings both the HD and MH1 domain into close proximity. This local proximity facilitates the interaction of these DNA-binding domains, thus strengthening the formation of the protein complex versus DNA binding. Once the protein complex has been formed, the TGIF1-Smad system would be released from promoters/enhancers, thereby illustrating one of the mechanisms used by TGIF1 to exert its function as an active repressor of Smad-induced TGF-β signaling.
Organizational Affiliation: 
Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Baldiri Reixac, 10, Barcelona 08028, Spain.