Evidence for auto-inhibition by the N terminus of hADAR2 and activation by dsRNA binding

Adenosine deaminases that act on RNA (ADARs) catalyze adenosine to inosine conversion in RNA that is largely double stranded. Human ADAR2 (hADAR2) contains two double-stranded RNA binding motifs (dsRBMs), separated by a 90-amino acid linker, and these are followed by the C-terminal catalytic domain. We assayed enzymatic activity of N-terminal deletion constructs of hADAR2 to determine the role of the dsRBMs and the intervening linker peptide. We found that a truncated protein consisting of one dsRBM and the deaminase domain was capable of deaminating a short 15-bp substrate. In contrast, full-length hADAR2 was inactive on this short substrate. In addition, we observed that the N terminus, which was deleted from the truncated protein, inhibits editing activity when added in trans. We propose that the N-terminal domain of hADAR2 contains sequences that cause auto-inhibition of the enzyme. Our results suggest activation requires binding to an RNA substrate long enough to accommodate interactions with both dsRBMs.