Structural basis for discrimination of 3-phosphoinositides by pleckstrin homology domains

Abstract

Pleckstrin homology (PH) domains are protein modules of around 120 amino acids found in many proteins involved in cellular signaling. Certain PH domains drive signal-dependent membrane recruitment of their host proteins by binding strongly and specifically to lipid second messengers produced by agonist-stimulated phosphoinositide 3-kinases (PI 3-Ks). We describe X-ray crystal structures of two different PH domains bound to Ins(1,3,4,5)P4, the head group of the major PI 3-K product PtdIns(3,4,5)P3. One of these PH domains (from Grp1) is PtdIns(3,4,5)P3 specific, while the other (from DAPP1/PHISH) binds strongly to both PtdIns(3,4,5)P3 and its 5'-dephosphorylation product, PtdIns (3,4)P2. Comparison of the two structures provides an explanation for the distinct phosphoinositide specificities of the two PH domains and allows us to predict the 3-phosphoinositide selectivity of uncharacterized PH domains.