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We are deeply saddened by the passing of Amos Bairoch (1957–2025), the creator of PROSITE. We wish to dedicate our latest paper, published shortly before his death, to him. He will always be a source of inspiration to us.
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Amos Bairoch

PROSITE documentation PDOC00033
'Homeobox' engrailed-type protein signature


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PURL: https://purl.expasy.org/prosite/documentation/PDOC00033

Description

Most proteins which contain a 'homeobox' domain can be classified [1,2], on the basis of their sequence characteristics, in three subfamilies: engrailed, antennapedia and paired. Proteins currently known to belong to the engrailed subfamily are:

  • Drosophila segmentation polarity protein engrailed (en) which specifies the body segmentation pattern and is required for the development of the central nervous system.
  • Drosophila invected protein (inv).
  • Silk moth proteins engrailed and invected, which may be involved in the compartmentalization of the silk gland.
  • Honeybee E30 and E60.
  • Grasshopper (Schistocerca americana) G-En.
  • Mammalian and birds En-1 and En-2.
  • Zebrafish Eng-1, -2 and -3.
  • Sea urchin (Tripneusteas gratilla) SU-HB-en.
  • Leech (Helobdella triserialis) Ht-En.
  • Caenorhabditis elegans ceh-16.

Engrailed homeobox proteins are characterized by the presence of a conserved region of some 20 amino-acid residues located at the C-terminal of the 'homeobox' domain. As a signature pattern for this subfamily of proteins, we have used a stretch of eight perfectly conserved residues in this region.

Last update:

July 1999 / Pattern and text revised.

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Technical section

PROSITE method (with tools and information) covered by this documentation:

ENGRAILED, PS00033; 'Homeobox' engrailed-type protein signature  (PATTERN)


References

1AuthorsScott M.P. Tamkun J.W. Hartzell G.W. III
TitleThe structure and function of the homeodomain.
SourceBiochim. Biophys. Acta 989:25-48(1989).
PubMed ID2568852

2AuthorsGehring W.J.
TitleHomeo boxes in the study of development.
SourceScience 236:1245-1252(1987).
PubMed ID2884726



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