PROSITE documentation PDOC50833

Brix domain profile

Analysis of the Brix (biogenesis of ribosomes in Xenopus) protein leaded to the identification of a region of 150-180 residues length, called the Brix domain, which is found in six protein families: one archaean family (I) including hypothetical proteins (one per genome); and five eukaryote families, each named according to a representative member and including close homologues of this prototype: (II) Peter Pan (D. melanogaster) and SSF1/2 (S.cerevisiae); (III) RPF1 (S. cerevisiae); (IV) IMP4 (S. cerevisiae); (V) Brix (X.laevis) and BRX1 (S. cerevisiae); and (VI) RPF2 (S.cerevisiae).

Typically, a protein sequence belonging to the Brix domain superfamily contains a highly charged N-terminal segment (about 50 residues) followed by a single copy of the Brix domain and another highly charged C-terminal region (about 100 residues). The archaean sequences have two unique characteristics: (1) the charged regions are totally absent at the N-terminus and are reduced in number to about 10 residues at the C-terminus; and (2) the C-terminal part of the Brix domain itself is minimal. Two eukaryote groups have large insertions within the C-terminal region: about 70 residues in the group III and about 120 in the group II. Biological data for some proteins in this family suggest a role in ribosome biogenesis and rRNA binding [1,2].

The profile we developed spans the entire Brix domain.