LRRIQ3 (Leucine-rich repeats and IQ motif containing 3), which is also known as LRRC44, is a
protein
Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, respo ...
that in humans is encoded by the LRRIQ3
gene
In biology, the word gene (from , ; "...Wilhelm Johannsen coined the word gene to describe the Mendelian units of heredity..." meaning ''generation'' or ''birth'' or ''gender'') can have several different meanings. The Mendelian gene is a ba ...
.
It is predominantly expressed in the testes, and is linked to a number of diseases.
Gene
Locus
LRRIQ3 is found on the
minus strand of the end of the
short arm
In genetics, a locus (plural loci) is a specific, fixed position on a chromosome where a particular gene or genetic marker A genetic marker is a gene or DNA sequence with a known location on a chromosome that can be used to identify individuals or ...
of human
chromosome 1
Chromosome 1 is the designation for the largest human chromosome. Humans have two copies of chromosome 1, as they do with all of the autosomes, which are the non-sex chromosomes. Chromosome 1 spans about 249 million nucleotide base pairs, which ar ...
at 1p31.1.
Overall Structure
There are a total of 7
exon
An exon is any part of a gene that will form a part of the final mature RNA produced by that gene after introns have been removed by RNA splicing. The term ''exon'' refers to both the DNA sequence within a gene and to the corresponding sequen ...
s in the putative sequence of LRRIQ3.
mRNA
Expression
LRRIQ3 is expressed as 2 primary
isoforms
A protein isoform, or "protein variant", is a member of a set of highly similar proteins that originate from a single gene or gene family and are the result of genetic differences. While many perform the same or similar biological roles, some isof ...
, which produce proteins of length 624 amino acids and 464 amino acids respectively.
It is expressed at low levels in human and brown rat tissues, with highest expression levels in
testes
A testicle or testis (plural testes) is the male reproductive gland or gonad in all bilaterians, including humans. It is homologous to the female ovary. The functions of the testes are to produce both sperm and androgens, primarily testoster ...
tissue. There are relatively high expression levels in
T cell
A T cell is a type of lymphocyte. T cells are one of the important white blood cells of the immune system and play a central role in the adaptive immune response. T cells can be distinguished from other lymphocytes by the presence of a T-cell r ...
s, the
epididymis
The epididymis (; plural: epididymides or ) is a tube that connects a testicle to a vas deferens in the male reproductive system. It is a single, narrow, tightly-coiled tube in adult humans, in length. It serves as an interconnection between the ...
, the
kidney
The kidneys are two reddish-brown bean-shaped organs found in vertebrates. They are located on the left and right in the retroperitoneal space, and in adult humans are about in length. They receive blood from the paired renal arteries; blood ...
, and a number of glands.
Protein
General Characteristics and Compositional Features
Human protein LRRIQ3 Isoform 1 consists of 624 amino acids, and has a molecular weight of 73.7 kDa. The isoelectric point of LRRIQ3 is 9.73, which suggests that LRRIQ3 is
basic
BASIC (Beginners' All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) is a family of general-purpose, high-level programming languages designed for ease of use. The original version was created by John G. Kemeny and Thomas E. Kurtz at Dartmouth College ...
at normal physiological pH (~7.4). Additionally, there is strong evidence that human LRRIQ3 localizes to the plasma membrane from antibody staining. LRRIQ3 is rich in
lysine
Lysine (symbol Lys or K) is an α-amino acid that is a precursor to many proteins. It contains an α-amino group (which is in the protonated form under biological conditions), an α-carboxylic acid group (which is in the deprotonated −C ...
residues, with a total of 82 lysines. It is also slightly low on
glycine
Glycine (symbol Gly or G; ) is an amino acid that has a single hydrogen atom as its side chain. It is the simplest stable amino acid (carbamic acid is unstable), with the chemical formula NH2‐ CH2‐ COOH. Glycine is one of the proteinogeni ...
s.
Domains and Motifs
In total, there are 4
conserved domains within LRRIQ3: 3
leucine-rich repeat
A leucine-rich repeat (LRR) is a protein structural motif that forms an α/β horseshoe fold. It is composed of repeating 20–30 amino acid stretches that are unusually rich in the hydrophobic amino acid leucine. These tandem repeats common ...
s and 1
IQ calmodulin-binding motif
The IQ calmodulin-binding motif is an amino acid sequence motif containing the following sequence:
* ILVxxx Kxxx Kx ILVWY
The term "IQ" refers to the first two amino acids of the motif: isoleucine (commonly) and glutamine (invariably).
Funct ...
.
Leucine-rich repeats are typically involved in protein-protein interactions, and form a characteristic α/β horseshoe
fold. An IQ motif provides a binding site for calmodulin (CaM) or CaM-like proteins.
Secondary and Tertiary Structure
LRRIQ3 is predicted to be mostly
alpha-helical
The alpha helix (α-helix) is a common motif in the secondary structure of proteins and is a right hand-helix conformation in which every backbone N−H group hydrogen bonds to the backbone C=O group of the amino acid located four residues e ...
in
structure
A structure is an arrangement and organization of interrelated elements in a material object or system, or the object or system so organized. Material structures include man-made objects such as buildings and machines and natural objects such as ...
, including a long alpha-helical
C-terminal domain
The C-terminus (also known as the carboxyl-terminus, carboxy-terminus, C-terminal tail, C-terminal end, or COOH-terminus) is the end of an amino acid chain (protein or polypeptide), terminated by a free carboxyl group (-COOH). When the protein is ...
. It is also predicted to function as a
monomer
In chemistry, a monomer ( ; ''mono-'', "one" + '' -mer'', "part") is a molecule that can react together with other monomer molecules to form a larger polymer chain or three-dimensional network in a process called polymerization.
Classification
Mo ...
.
Post-translational Modifications
LRRIQ3 is predicted to undergo many
post-translational modification
Post-translational modification (PTM) is the covalent and generally enzymatic modification of proteins following protein biosynthesis. This process occurs in the endoplasmic reticulum and the golgi apparatus. Proteins are synthesized by ribosome ...
s. These include
O-GlcNAcylation,
SUMOylation
In molecular biology, SUMO (Small Ubiquitin-like Modifier) proteins are a family of small proteins that are covalently attached to and detached from other proteins in cells to modify their function. This process is called SUMOylation (sometimes w ...
,
ubiquitin
Ubiquitin is a small (8.6 kDa) regulatory protein found in most tissues of eukaryotic organisms, i.e., it is found ''ubiquitously''. It was discovered in 1975 by Gideon Goldstein and further characterized throughout the late 1970s and 1980s. Fo ...
ation, and
phosphorylation
In chemistry, phosphorylation is the attachment of a phosphate group to a molecule or an ion. This process and its inverse, dephosphorylation, are common in biology and could be driven by natural selection. Text was copied from this source, wh ...
.
LRRIQ3 is predicted to have 4 well conserved SUMOlyation sites and 1 well conserved ubiquitination site.
A representation of these post-translational modifications is shown in the figure below.
Protein Interactions
There is evidence that LRRIQ3 interacts with a number of proteins from
two-hybrid assays and
affinity chromatography
Affinity chromatography is a method of separating a biomolecule from a mixture, based on a highly specific macromolecular binding interaction between the biomolecule and another substance. The specific type of binding interaction depends on the ...
. The proteins LRRIQ3 interact with include
LYN,
NCK2
Cytoplasmic protein NCK2 (also known as NCK-beta and Grb4) is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''NCK2'' gene.
Function
NCK belongs to family of adaptor proteins. There are two mammalian NCK genes, NCK1 and NCK2. NCK1 is located in ch ...
,
GNB4
Guanine nucleotide-binding protein subunit beta-4 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''GNB4'' gene
In biology, the word gene (from , ; "...Wilhelm Johannsen coined the word gene to describe the Mendelian units of heredity..." m ...
, and
ABL1
Tyrosine-protein kinase ABL1 also known as ABL1 is a protein that, in humans, is encoded by the ''ABL1'' gene (previous symbol ''ABL'') located on chromosome 9. c-Abl is sometimes used to refer to the version of the gene found within the mammalian ...
. These proteins are associated with
cell signalling
In biology, cell signaling (cell signalling in British English) or cell communication is the ability of a cell to receive, process, and transmit signals with its environment and with itself. Cell signaling is a fundamental property of all cellula ...
,
cytoskeletal
The cytoskeleton is a complex, dynamic network of interlinking protein filaments present in the cytoplasm of all cells, including those of bacteria and archaea. In eukaryotes, it extends from the cell nucleus to the cell membrane and is compo ...
reorganization, and
cell differentiation
Cellular differentiation is the process in which a stem cell alters from one type to a differentiated one. Usually, the cell changes to a more specialized type. Differentiation happens multiple times during the development of a multicellula ...
, as well as others.
Homology and evolution
Paralogs and Orthologs
No
paralog
Sequence homology is the biological homology between DNA, RNA, or protein sequences, defined in terms of shared ancestry in the evolutionary history of life. Two segments of DNA can have shared ancestry because of three phenomena: either a spec ...
s exists for LRRIQ3 in humans.
However, there are a number of
orthologs
Sequence homology is the biological homology between DNA, RNA, or protein sequences, defined in terms of shared ancestry in the evolutionary history of life. Two segments of DNA can have shared ancestry because of three phenomena: either a spec ...
, as reported by
BLAST
Blast or The Blast may refer to:
* Explosion, a rapid increase in volume and release of energy in an extreme manner
*Detonation, an exothermic front accelerating through a medium that eventually drives a shock front
Film
* ''Blast'' (1997 film) ...
, some of which are listed below.
The number of years since
divergence
In vector calculus, divergence is a vector operator that operates on a vector field, producing a scalar field giving the quantity of the vector field's source at each point. More technically, the divergence represents the volume density of the ...
from the human protein, listed in "million of years ago (MYA)" below, were calculated using
TimeTree
TimeTree is a free public database developed by S. Blair Hedges and Sudhir Kumar, now at Temple University, for presenting times of divergence in the tree of life. The basic concept has been to produce and present a community consensus of the tim ...
.
Clinical significance
LRRIQ3 is linked to a number of cancers. RNA-seq experiments have shown that LRRIQ3 is severely down-regulated (Log
2-fold changes between -3.4 and -4.2) in a number of disease states, including pancreatic cancer, colorectal cancer, and breast cancer.
References
{{reflist
Proteins
Genes on human chromosome 1