Calendar Name: seminars
Scheduled for: Monday, November 7 2011, 11:00 - 12:30
Event text: Prof Peter Tompa
VIB Department of Structural Biology
Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Brussel
BELGIUM
Details: �Intrinsically disordered proteins in cellular function
and disease�
ABSTRACT
Peter Tompa1,2
1VIB Department of Structural Biology, Brussels and
2Institute of Enzymology, Budapest
Our traditional view of proteins is rooted in the notion
that a well-defined three-dimensional structure is the
prerequisite of their function. The evidence is steadily
growing, however, that for a significant fraction of the
proteome the functionally relevant state is not
structured [1,2]. This recognition has called for the
extension of the protein structure-function paradigm to
encompass such proteins and protein domains, now termed
intrinsically unstructured, intrinsically disordered
(IDPs) or natively unfolded. Here the current state of
this rapidly advancing field is surveyed [3]. It is
shown that such proteins are common in living organisms
and play important roles in the regulation of key
cellular processes of signaling and transcription. It
will be shown that we have multiple experimental
techniques at our disposal for the characterization of
the structural ensemble of IDPs, and also that
structural disorder provides advantages so that IDPs
often surpass globular proteins in terms of functional
specificity, versatility, speed and control [4]. Because
of their important functions, however, IDPs are also
often involved in disease, such as cancer and
neurodegeneration. Thus, it is argued that understanding
this structural phenomenon at atomic resolution not only
represents a novel challenge for extending the
structure-function paradigm, but also presents novel
targets and raises new hope for drug discovery [5].
[1] Tompa, P. (2002) Intrinsically unstructured
proteins. Trends Biochem. Sci. 27, 527-533.
[2] Tompa, P. (2009) Structure and function of
intrinsically disordered proteins, CRC Press (Taylor and
Francis Group), Boca Raton, Fl.
[3] Tompa, P. (2011) Unstructural biology coming of
age. Curr. Opin. Struct. Biol. 21, 419-25.
[4] Kovacs, D., Kalmar, E., Torok, Z. and Tompa, P.
(2008) Chaperone activity of ERD10 and ERD14, two
disordered stress-related plant proteins. Plant Physiol.
147, 381-90.
[5] Metallo, S.J. (2010) Intrinsically disordered
proteins are potential drug targets. Curr. Opin. Chem.
Biol. 14, 481-8.
