Repurposing a pore: highly conserved perforin-like proteins with alternative mechanisms

Pore-forming proteins play critical roles in pathogenic attack and immunological defence. The membrane attack complex/perforin (MACPF) group of homologues represents, with cholesterol-dependent cytolysins, the largest family of such proteins. In this review, we begin by describing briefly the struct...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B. Biological sciences 2017-08, Vol.372 (1726), p.20160212-20160212
Main Authors: Ni, Tao, Gilbert, Robert J. C.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Astrotactin
Brinp
Cholesterol
Complement Membrane Attack Complex - metabolism
Cytolysins
Evolution
Homology
Humans
Immunology
Membrane attack complex
Models, Molecular
Perforin
Perforin - metabolism
Perforin-Like Protein
Pore formation
Pore-forming proteins
Proteins
Retinoic acid
Review
Vertebrates - embryology
Vertebrates - growth & development
Vertebrates - metabolism
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Summary:Pore-forming proteins play critical roles in pathogenic attack and immunological defence. The membrane attack complex/perforin (MACPF) group of homologues represents, with cholesterol-dependent cytolysins, the largest family of such proteins. In this review, we begin by describing briefly the structure of MACPF proteins, outlining their common mechanism of pore formation. We subsequently discuss some examples of MACPF proteins likely implicated in pore formation or other membrane-remodelling processes. Finally, we focus on astrotactin and bone morphogenetic protein and retinoic acid-induced neural-specific proteins, highly conserved MACPF family members involved in developmental processes, which have not been well studied to date or observed to form a pore—and which data suggest may act by alternative mechanisms. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Membrane pores: from structure and assembly, to medicine and technology’.
ISSN:0962-8436
1471-2970
DOI:10.1098/rstb.2016.0212