Peptide-in-groove interactions link target proteins to the beta-propeller of clathrin.
ter Haar, E., Harrison, S.C., Kirchhausen, T.(2000) Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 97: 1096-1100
- PubMed: 10655490 
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.97.3.1096
- Primary Citation of Related Structures:  
1C9I, 1C9L - PubMed Abstract: 
The "WD40" domain is a widespread recognition module for linking partner proteins in intracellular networks of signaling and sorting. The clathrin amino-terminal domain, which directs incorporation of cargo into coated pits, is a beta-propeller closely related in structure to WD40 modules. The crystallographically determined structures of complexes of the clathrin-terminal domain with peptides derived from two different cargo adaptors, beta-arrestin 2 and the beta-subunit of the AP-3 complex, reveal strikingly similar peptide-in-groove interactions. The two peptides in our structures contain related, five-residue motifs, which form the core of their contact with clathrin. A number of other proteins involved in endocytosis have similar "clathrin-box" motifs, and it therefore is likely that they all bind the terminal domain in the same way. We propose that a peptide-in-groove interaction is an important general mode by which beta-propellers recognize specific target proteins.
Organizational Affiliation: 
Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Children's Hospital, Laboratory of Molecular Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.