THE RSP5-DOMAIN IS SHARED BY PROTEINS OF DIVERSE FUNCTIONS

A novel, unusually small, and highly conserved domain of modular intracellular proteins is described. The domain was first recognized as three repeats in the yeast rsp5 gene product and named thereafter. The rsp5 protein is thought to interact with nuclear proteins but also contains a C2 domain typical for cytoplasmic proteins. Further analyses revealed several additional occurrences of this domain in diverse protein classes, including cytoplasmic signal transduction proteins, gene products interacting with the transcription machinery, structural proteins like dystrophin, and a putative RNA helicase.