 PAZ | |
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| SMART ACC: | SM000949 |
| Description: | This domain is named PAZ after the proteins Piwi Argonaut and Zwille. This domain is found in two families of proteins that are involved in post-transcriptional gene silencing. These are the Piwi family and the Dicer family, that includes the Carpel factory protein. The function of the domains is unknown but has been suggested to mediate complex formation between proteins of the Piwi and Dicer families by hetero-dimerisation. The three-dimensional structure of this domain has been solved. The PAZ domain is composed of two subdomains. One subdomain is similar to the OB fold, albeit with a different topology. The OB-fold is well known as a single-stranded nucleic acid binding fold. The second subdomain is composed of a beta-hairpin followed by an alpha-helix. The PAZ domains shows low-affinity nucleic acid binding and appears to interact with the 3' ends of single-stranded regions of RNA in the cleft between the two subdomains. PAZ can bind the characteristic two-base 3' overhangs of siRNAs, indicating that although PAZ may not be a primary nucleic acid binding site in Dicer or RISC, it may contribute to the specific and productive incorporation of siRNAs and miRNAs into the RNAi pathway. |
| InterPro ACC: | IPR003100 |
| InterPro abstract: | This domain is named after the proteins Piwi Argonaut and Zwille. It is also found in the CAF protein from Arabidopsis thaliana. This domain has been found in the middle region of a number of members of the Argonaute protein family, which also contain the Piwi domain ( IPR003165 ) in their C-terminal region [ … expand |
| GO function: | protein binding (GO:0005515), RNA binding (GO:0003723) |
| Family alignment: | View the Family alignment or the Alignment consensus sequence |
| There are 8 514 PAZ domains in 8 477 proteins in SMART's NRDB database. | |
Taxonomic distribution of proteins containing PAZ domains
The tree below includes only several representative species and genera. The complete taxonomic breakdown of all proteins containing PAZ domains can be accessed here. Click the counts or percentage values to display the corresponding proteins.
Predicted cellular role
| Cellular role: | Transcription |
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Relevant references for this domain
Primary literature for the PAZ domain is listed below. Automatically-derived, secondary literature is also available.
KEGG pathways involving proteins which contain this domain
This information is based on the mapping of SMART genomic protein database to KEGG orthologous groups. Percentages are related to the number of proteins containing a PAZ domain which could be assigned to a KEGG orthologous group, and not all proteins containing PAZ domains. Please note that proteins can be included in multiple pathways, ie. the numbers below will not add to 100%.