PMID: 30289411

Authors:

Noble JW, Almalki R, Roe SM, Wagner A, Duman R, Atack JR

Title:

The X-ray structure of human calbindin-D28K: an improved model.

Journal:

Acta Crystallogr D Struct Biol. 2018 Oct 1;74(Pt 10):1008-1014. doi:, 10.1107/S2059798318011610. Epub 2018 Oct 2.

Abstract:

Calbindin-D28K is a widely expressed calcium-buffering cytoplasmic protein that is involved in many physiological processes. It has been shown to interact with other proteins, suggesting a role as a calcium sensor. Many of the targets of calbindin-D28K are of therapeutic interest: for example, inositol monophosphatase, the putative target of lithium therapy in bipolar disorder. Presented here is the first crystal structure of human calbindin-D28K. There are significant deviations in the tertiary structure when compared with the NMR structure of rat calbindin-D28K (PDB entry 2g9b), despite 98% sequence identity. Small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) indicates that the crystal structure better predicts the properties of calbindin-D28K in solution compared with the NMR structure. Here, the first direct visualization of the calcium-binding properties of calbindin-D28K is presented. Four of the six EF-hands that make up the secondary structure of the protein contain a calcium-binding site. Two distinct conformations of the N-terminal EF-hand calcium-binding site were identified using long-wavelength calcium single-wavelength anomalous dispersion (SAD). This flexible region has previously been recognized as a protein-protein interaction interface. SAXS data collected in both the presence and absence of calcium indicate that there are no large structural differences in the globular structure of calbindin-D28K between the calcium-loaded and unloaded proteins.