This entry consists of several eukaryotic survival motor neuron (SMN) proteins and Survival of motor neuron-related-splicing factor 30 (SPF30). The Survival of Motor Neurons (SMN) protein, the product of the spinal muscular atrophy-determining gene, ...
This entry consists of several eukaryotic survival motor neuron (SMN) proteins and Survival of motor neuron-related-splicing factor 30 (SPF30). The Survival of Motor Neurons (SMN) protein, the product of the spinal muscular atrophy-determining gene, is part of a large macromolecular complex (SMN complex) that functions in the assembly of spliceosomal small nuclear ribonucleoproteins (snRNPs). The SMN complex functions as a specificity factor essential for the efficient assembly of Sm proteins on U snRNAs and likely protects cells from illicit, and potentially deleterious, non-specific binding of Sm proteins to RNAs [1]. This is the Tudor domain of SMN and SPF30, in which an aromatic cage in the Tudor domain mediates dimethylarginine recognition by electrostatic stabilization through cation-pi interactions [2,3,4].