Abstract
Pioneering cell aggregation experiments from the Artavanis-Tsakonas group in the late 1980’s localized the core ligand recognition sequence in the Drosophila Notch receptor to epidermal growth factor-like (EGF) domains 11 and 12. Since then, advances in protein expression, structure determination methods and functional assays have enabled us to define the molecular basis of the core receptor/ligand interaction and given new insights into the architecture of the Notch complex at the cell surface. We now know that Notch EGF11 and 12 interact with the Delta/Serrate/LAG-2 (DSL) and C2 domains of ligand and that membrane-binding, together with additional protein-protein interactions outside the core recognition domains, are likely to fine-tune generation of the Notch signal. Furthermore, structure determination of O-glycosylated variants of Notch alone or in complex with receptor fragments, has shown that these sugars contribute directly to the binding interface, as well as to stabilizing intra-molecular domain structure, providing some mechanistic insights into the observed modulatory effects of O-glycosylation on Notch activity.
Future challenges lie in determining the complete extracellular architecture of ligand and receptor in order to understand (i) how Notch/ligand complexes may form at the cell surface in response to physiological cues, (ii) the role of lipid binding in stabilizing the Notch/ligand complex, (iii) the impact of O-glycosylation on binding and signalling and (iv) to dissect the different pathologies that arise as a consequence of mutations that affect proteins involved in the Notch pathway.
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Abbreviations
- DSL:
-
Delta Serrate LAG-2
- EGF:
-
epidermal growth factor-like
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Acknowledgements
This work was funded by the MRC (MR/L001187/1), a Wellcome Investigator award to SML (100298) and by the EPA Cephalosporin Trust. We would like to thank Dr. Pat Whiteman for proof-reading and helpful comments.
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Handford, P.A., Korona, B., Suckling, R., Redfield, C., Lea, S.M. (2018). Structural Insights into Notch Receptor-Ligand Interactions. In: Borggrefe, T., Giaimo, B. (eds) Molecular Mechanisms of Notch Signaling. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 1066. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-89512-3_2
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