skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Structural basis for corepressor assembly by the orphan nuclear receptor TLX

Journal Article · · Genes & Development
 [1];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [2];  [5]
  1. Van Andel Research Inst. (VARI), Grand Rapids, MI (United States). Lab. of Structural Sciences; Univ. of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX (United States). Autophagy Research Center
  2. Van Andel Research Inst. (VARI), Grand Rapids, MI (United States). Lab. of Structural Sciences
  3. Univ. of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX (United States). Dept. of Molecular Biology
  4. Univ. of California, Riverside, CA (United States). Dept. of Cell Biology and Neuroscience
  5. Van Andel Research Inst. (VARI), Grand Rapids, MI (United States). Lab. of Structural Sciences; Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Shanghai (China). Shanghai Inst. of Materia Medica. Key Lab. of Receptor Research. Van Andel Research Inst.-Shanghai Inst. of Materia Medica (VARI/SIMM) Center

The orphan nuclear receptor TLX regulates neural stem cell self-renewal in the adult brain and functions primarily as a transcription repressor through recruitment of Atrophin corepressors, which bind to TLX via a conserved peptide motif termed the Atro box. Here we report crystal structures of the human and insect TLX ligand-binding domain in complex with Atro box peptides. In these structures, TLX adopts an autorepressed conformation in which its helix H12 occupies the coactivator-binding groove. Unexpectedly, H12 in this autorepressed conformation forms a novel binding pocket with residues from helix H3 that accommodates a short helix formed by the conserved ALXXLXXY motif of the Atro box. Mutations that weaken the TLX–Atrophin interaction compromise the repressive activity of TLX, demonstrating that this interaction is required for Atrophin to confer repressor activity to TLX. Moreover, the autorepressed conformation is conserved in the repressor class of orphan nuclear receptors, and mutations of corresponding residues in other members of this class of receptors diminish their repressor activities. Together, our results establish the functional conservation of the autorepressed conformation and define a key sequence motif in the Atro box that is essential for TLX-mediated repression.

Research Organization:
Van Andel Research Inst. (VARI), Grand Rapids, MI (United States); Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Shanghai (China)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC); National Inst. of Health (NIH) (United States); Michigan Economic Development Corporation (United States); Michigan Technology Tri-Corridor (United States); Jay and Betty Van Andel Foundation (United States); Ministry of Science and Technology (China)
Contributing Organization:
Univ. of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX (United States); Univ. of California, Riverside, CA (United States)
Grant/Contract Number:
DK071662; NS070981; NS088095; GM102545; GM104212; 085P1000817; 2012ZX09301001; 2012CB910403; 2013CB910600; XDB08020303; 2013ZX09507001
OSTI ID:
1229906
Journal Information:
Genes & Development, Vol. 29, Issue 4; ISSN 0890-9369
Publisher:
Cold Springs Harbor PressCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
ENGLISH
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 17 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (59)

PHENIX: a comprehensive Python-based system for macromolecular structure solution journal January 2010
The CCP4 suite programs for protein crystallography journal September 1994
A transcriptional inhibitor targeted by the atypical orphan nuclear receptor SHP journal May 2002
The Human Orphan Nuclear Receptor Tailless (TLX, NR2E1) Is Druggable journal June 2014
Functional role of G9a-induced histone methylation in small heterodimer partner-mediated transcriptional repression journal November 2004
Structural analysis of nuclear receptors: From isolated domains to integral proteins journal January 2012
Crystallography & NMR System: A New Software Suite for Macromolecular Structure Determination journal September 1998
Tailless and Atrophin control Drosophila aggression by regulating neuropeptide signalling in the pars intercerebralis journal February 2014
Improved low-resolution crystallographic refinement with Phenix and Rosetta journal September 2013
Coot model-building tools for molecular graphics journal November 2004
Mutations in NR2E3 can cause dominant or recessive retinal degenerations in the same family journal March 2009
Nuclear Receptors, RXR, and the Big Bang journal March 2014
Structural Basis for the Cell-specific Activities of the NGFI-B and the Nurr1 Ligand-binding Domain journal May 2005
Advances in our structural understanding of orphan nuclear receptors journal January 2015
A Tale of Tailless journal December 2010
Drosophila Brakeless Interacts with Atrophin and Is Required for Tailless-Mediated Transcriptional Repression in Early Embryos journal May 2007
TLX: A master regulator for neural stem cell maintenance and neurogenesis journal February 2015
Improved methods for building protein models in electron density maps and the location of errors in these models journal March 1991
XDS journal January 2010
Identification of COUP-TFII Orphan Nuclear Receptor as a Retinoic Acid–Activated Receptor journal September 2008
A Transcriptional Silencing Domain in DAX-1 Whose Mutation Causes Adrenal Hypoplasia Congenita journal December 1997
Structural and biochemical basis for selective repression of the orphan nuclear receptor liver receptor homolog 1 by small heterodimer partner journal June 2005
The nuclear receptor tailless is required for neurogenesis in the adult subventricular zone journal September 2008
The nuclear receptor tailless induces long-term neural stem cell expansion and brain tumor initiation journal April 2010
The nuclear receptor superfamily: The second decade journal December 1995
[20] Processing of X-ray diffraction data collected in oscillation mode book January 1997
Krüppel requirement for knirps enhancement reflects overlapping gap gene activities in the Drosophila embryo journal September 1989
The neural stem cell fate determinant TLX promotes tumorigenesis and genesis of cells resembling glioma stem cells journal August 2010
Structure of Rev-erbα bound to N-CoR reveals a unique mechanism of nuclear receptor–co-repressor interaction journal June 2010
The Drosophila gene tailless is expressed at the embryonic termini and is a member of the steroid receptor superfamily journal July 1990
The structure of corepressor Dax-1 bound to its target nuclear receptor LRH-1 journal November 2008
Involvement of corepressor complex subunit GPS2 in transcriptional pathways governing human bile acid biosynthesis journal September 2007
Super-resolution biomolecular crystallography with low-resolution data journal April 2010
Expression and function of orphan nuclear receptor TLX in adult neural stem cells journal January 2004
Dual Role of the Drosophila Pattern Gene tailless in Embryonic Termini journal October 1991
Orphan nuclear receptor TLX recruits histone deacetylases to repress transcription and regulate neural stem cell proliferation journal September 2007
Histone Demethylase LSD1 Regulates Neural Stem Cell Proliferation journal April 2010
A cell cycle-dependent co-repressor mediates photoreceptor cell-specific nuclear receptor function journal January 2007
The Crystal Structure of the Orphan Nuclear Receptor NR2E3/PNR Ligand Binding Domain Reveals a Dimeric Auto-Repressed Conformation journal September 2013
Rere controls retinoic acid signalling and somite bilateral symmetry journal February 2010
Atrophin Proteins: An Overview of a New Class of Nuclear Receptor Corepressors journal January 2008
Structure and function of Nurr1 identifies a class of ligand-independent nuclear receptors journal May 2003
Histone deacetylase-associating Atrophin proteins are nuclear receptor corepressors journal March 2006
Atrophin recruits HDAC1/2 and G9a to modify histone H3K9 and to determine cell fates journal May 2008
The Tailless Root of Glioma: Cancer Stem Cells journal August 2014
Molecular Recognition of Fatty Acids by Peroxisome Proliferator–Activated Receptors journal March 1999
Coactivator and corepressor complexes in nuclear receptor function journal April 1999
Structural determinants of ligand binding selectivity between the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors journal November 2001
Structural basis for antagonist-mediated recruitment of nuclear co-repressors by PPARα journal February 2002
Transrepressive Function of TLX Requires the Histone Demethylase LSD1 journal June 2008
Control of Early Neurogenesis of theDrosophilaBrain by the Head Gap Genestll, otd, ems,andbtd journal February 1997
Relationship between Drosophila gap gene tailless and a vertebrate nuclear receptor Tlx journal August 1994
Gene Silencing by Nuclear Orphan Receptors book January 2004
Nuclear receptor TLX prevents retinal dystrophy and recruits the corepressor atrophin1 journal May 2006
A role for adult TLX-positive neural stem cells in learning and behaviour journal January 2008
Structural Conservation of Ligand Binding Reveals a Bile Acid-like Signaling Pathway in Nematodes journal December 2011
Structural insights into gene repression by the orphan nuclear receptor SHP journal December 2013
The Orphan Nuclear Receptor TR4 Is a Vitamin A-activated Nuclear Receptor journal November 2010
The Nuclear Receptor TLX Is Required for Gliomagenesis within the Adult Neurogenic Niche journal December 2012

Cited By (7)

Co-activator candidate interactions for orphan nuclear receptor NR2E1 text January 2017
Computer-Aided Discovery of Small Molecule Inhibitors of Transcriptional Activity of TLX (NR2E1) Nuclear Receptor journal November 2018
Co-activator candidate interactions for orphan nuclear receptor NR2E1 journal October 2016
Computer-Aided Discovery of Small Molecule Inhibitors of Transcriptional Activity of TLX (NR2E1) Nuclear Receptor text January 2019
Heterodimers of photoreceptor-specific nuclear receptor (PNR/NR2E3) and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ (PPARγ) are disrupted by retinal disease-associated mutations journal March 2017
TLX—Its Emerging Role for Neurogenesis in Health and Disease journal January 2016
Crystal structures of MBP fusion proteins: Structures of MBP Fusion Proteins journal January 2016

Figures / Tables (7)