Transiently Structured Head Domains Control Intermediate Filament Assembly
Transiently structured head domains control intermediate filament assembly Xiaoming Zhoua, Yi Lina,1, Masato Katoa,b,c, Eiichiro Morid, Glen Liszczaka, Lillian Sutherlanda, Vasiliy O. Sysoeva, Dylan T. Murraye, Robert Tyckoc, and Steven L. McKnighta,2 aDepartment of Biochemistry, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390; bInstitute for Quantum Life Science, National Institutes for Quantum and Radiological Science and Technology, 263-8555 Chiba, Japan; cLaboratory of Chemical Physics, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892-0520; dDepartment of Future Basic Medicine, Nara Medical University, 840 Shijo-cho, Kashihara, Nara, Japan; and eDepartment of Chemistry, University of California, Davis, CA 95616 Contributed by Steven L. McKnight, January 2, 2021 (sent for review October 30, 2020; reviewed by Lynette Cegelski, Tatyana Polenova, and Natasha Snider) Low complexity (LC) head domains 92 and 108 residues in length are, IF head domains might facilitate filament assembly in a manner respectively, required for assembly of neurofilament light (NFL) and analogous to LC domain function by RNA-binding proteins in the desmin intermediate filaments (IFs). As studied in isolation, these IF assembly of RNA granules. head domains interconvert between states of conformational disor- IFs are defined by centrally located α-helical segments 300 to der and labile, β-strand–enriched polymers. Solid-state NMR (ss-NMR) 350 residues in length. These central, α-helical segments are spectroscopic studies of NFL and desmin head domain polymers re- flanked on either end by head and tail domains thought to be veal spectral patterns consistent with structural order.
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