| Literature References | 1.CASSARD, A.M., BOUILLAUD, F., MATTEI, M.G., HENTZ, E., RAIMBAULT, S.,
THOMAS, M. AND RICQUIER, D.
Human uncoupling protein gene: structure, comparison with rat gene, and
assignment to the long arm of chromosome 4.
J.CELL BIOCHEMISTRY 43(3) 255-264 (1990).
2. AQUILA, H., LINK, T.A. AND KLINGENBERG, M.
THe uncoupling protein from brown fat mitochondria is related to the
mitochondrial ADP/ATP carrier. analysis of sequence homologies and of
folding of the protein in the membrane.
EMBO J. 4(9) 2369-2376 (1985).
3. KOZAK, L.P., BRITTON, J.H., KOZAK, U.C. AND WELLS, J.M.
The mitochondrial uncoupling protein gene. Correlation of exon structure
to transmembrane domains.
J.BIOL.CHEM. 263(25) 12274-12277 (1988).
|
| Documentation | The brown fat uncoupling protein (UCP) dissipates oxidative energy into heat
by transporting protons from the cytosol into the mitochondrial matrix [1].
UCP functions as a dimer, forming a proton channel that leads to uncoupling
of oxidative phosphorylation by dissipation of the electrochemical potential
across the inner membrane.
The protein has a tripartite structure, with 3 similar ~100 residue domains.
The domains exhibit striking conservation of several residues, especially
of glycine and proline, which may constitute structurally strategic
positions [2]. The protein is thought to contain 6 transmembrane helices
[3]. These characteristics are shared by the ADP/ATP carrier protein, which
is a member of the mitochondrial carrier family.
MTUNCOUPLING is a 6-element fingerprint that provides a signature for
mitochondrial brown fat uncoupling proteins. The fingerprint was derived
from an initial alignment of 6 sequences: the motifs were drawn from
conserved regions spanning the full alignment length - motif 1 lies in
the first putative TM region; motif 2 spans part of the fifth putative
TM region; and motif 6 lies at the C-terminal extremity, in the purine
nucleotide binding domain. Two iterations on OWL29.4 were required to
reach convergence, at which point a true set comprising 11 sequences was
identified.
An update on SPTR37_9f identified a true set of 13 sequences, and 4
partial matches.
|