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RWD domain: a recurring module in kinetochore architecture shown by a Ctf19–Mcm21 complex structure
Author(s) -
Schmitzberger Florian,
Harrison Stephen C
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
embo reports
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.584
H-Index - 184
eISSN - 1469-3178
pISSN - 1469-221X
DOI - 10.1038/embor.2012.1
Subject(s) - domain (mathematical analysis) , kinetochore , architecture , computer science , computational biology , biology , microbiology and biotechnology , computer architecture , genetics , history , gene , mathematical analysis , mathematics , chromosome , archaeology
The proteins Ctf19, Okp1, Mcm21 and Ame1 are the components of COMA, a subassembly of budding‐yeast kinetochores. We have determined the crystal structure of a conserved COMA subcomplex—the Ctf19–Mcm21 heterodimer—from Kluyveromyces lactis . Both proteins contain ‘double‐RWD’ domains, which together form a Y‐shaped framework with flexible N‐terminal extensions. The kinetochore proteins Csm1, Spc24 and Spc25 have related single RWD domains, and Ctf19 and Mcm21 associate with pseudo‐twofold symmetry analogous to that in the Csm1 homodimer and the Spc24–Spc25 heterodimer. The double‐RWD domain core of the Ctf19–Mcm21 heterodimer is sufficient for association with Okp1–Ame1; the less conserved N‐terminal regions may interact with components of a more extensive ‘CTF19 complex’. Our structure shows the RWD domain to be a recurring module of kinetochore architecture that may be present in other kinetochore substructures. Like many eukaryotic molecular machines, kinetochores may have evolved from simpler assemblies by multiplication of a few ancestral modules.