This entry represents the CRA (or CT11-RanBPM) domain, which is a protein-protein interaction domain present in crown eukaryotes (plants, animals, fungi) and which is found in Ran-binding proteins such as Ran-binding protein 9 (RanBP9 or RanBPM) and RanBP10. RanBPM is a scaffolding protein important in regulating cellular function in both the immune system and the nervous system, and may act as an adapter protein to couple membrane receptors to intracellular signaling pathways. This domain is at the C terminus of the proteins and is the binding domain for the CRA motif, which is comprised of approximately 100 amino acids at the C-terminal of RanBPM. It was found to be important for the interaction of RanBPM with fragile X mental retardation protein (FMRP), but its functional significance has yet to be determined [ (PUBMED:15381419) ].
Family alignment:
There are 5980 CRA domains in 5977 proteins in SMART's nrdb database.
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Evolution (species in which this domain is found)
Taxonomic distribution of proteins containing CRA domain.
This tree includes only several representative species. The complete taxonomic breakdown of all proteins with CRA domain is also avaliable.
Click on the protein counts, or double click on taxonomic names to display all proteins containing CRA domain in the selected taxonomic class.
The C terminus of fragile X mental retardation protein interacts with the multi-domain Ran-binding protein in the microtubule-organising centre.
J Mol Biol. 2004; 343: 43-53
Display abstract
Absence of the fragile X mental retardation protein (FMRP) causes fragile X syndrome, the most common form of hereditary mental retardation. FMRP is a mainly cytoplasmic protein thought to be involved in repression of translation, through a complex network of protein-protein and protein-RNA interactions. Most of the currently known protein partners of FMRP recognise the conserved N terminus of the protein. No interaction has yet been mapped to the highly charged, poorly conserved C terminus, so far thought to be involved in RNA recognition through an RGG motif. In the present study, we show that a two-hybrid bait containing residues 419-632 of human FMRP fishes out a protein that spans the sequence of the Ran-binding protein in the microtubule-organising centre (RanBPM/RanBP9). Specific interaction of RanBPM with FMRP was confirmed by in vivo and in vitro assays. In brain tissue sections, RanBPM is highly expressed in the neurons of cerebral cortex and the cerebellar purkinje cells, in a pattern similar to that described for FMRP. Sequence analysis shows that RanBPM is a multi-domain protein. The interaction with FMRP was mapped in a newly identified CRA motif present in the RanBPM C terminus. Our results suggest that the functional role of RanBPM binding is modulation of the RNA-binding properties of FMRP.
Links (links to other resources describing this domain)
