LIM domain binding 3 (LDB3), also known as Z-band alternatively spliced PDZ-motif (ZASP), is a

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, respon ...

which in humans is encoded by the ''LDB3''

gene In biology, the word gene (from , ; "... Wilhelm Johannsen coined the word gene to describe the Mendelian units of heredity..." meaning ''generation'' or ''birth'' or ''gender'') can have several different meanings. The Mendelian gene is a b ...

. ZASP belongs to the Enigma subfamily of proteins and stabilizes the

sarcomere A sarcomere (Greek σάρξ ''sarx'' "flesh", μέρος ''meros'' "part") is the smallest functional unit of striated muscle tissue. It is the repeating unit between two Z-lines. Skeletal muscles are composed of tubular muscle cells (called musc ...

(the basic units of muscles) during contraction, through interactions with

actin Actin is a protein family, family of Globular protein, globular multi-functional proteins that form microfilaments in the cytoskeleton, and the thin filaments in myofibril, muscle fibrils. It is found in essentially all Eukaryote, eukaryotic cel ...

cardiac The heart is a muscular organ found in most animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels of the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrients to the body, while carrying metabolic waste such as carbon di ...

and

skeletal muscle Skeletal muscles (commonly referred to as muscles) are organs of the vertebrate muscular system and typically are attached by tendons to bones of a skeleton. The muscle cells of skeletal muscles are much longer than in the other types of m ...

s. Mutations in the ZASP gene has been associated with several muscular diseases.

Structure

ZASP is a

PDZ domain The PDZ domain is a common structural domain of 80-90 amino-acids found in the signaling proteins of bacteria, yeast, plants, viruses and animals. Proteins containing PDZ domains play a key role in anchoring receptor proteins in the membrane t ...

-containing protein. PDZ motifs are modular protein-protein interaction domains consisting of 80-120 amino acid residues. PDZ domain-containing proteins interact with each other in

cytoskeletal The cytoskeleton is a complex, dynamic network of interlinking protein filaments present in the cytoplasm of all cells, including those of bacteria and archaea. In eukaryotes, it extends from the cell nucleus to the cell membrane and is comp ...

assembly or with other proteins involved in targeting and clustering of membrane proteins. ZASP interacts with alpha-

actinin Actinin is a microfilament protein. Alpha-actinin-1 is necessary for the attachment of actin myofilaments to the Z-lines in skeletal muscle cells, and to the dense bodies in smooth muscle cells. The functional protein is an anti-parallel dimer ...

-2 through its

N-terminal The N-terminus (also known as the amino-terminus, NH2-terminus, N-terminal end or amine-terminus) is the start of a protein or polypeptide, referring to the free amine group (-NH2) located at the end of a polypeptide. Within a peptide, the amin ...

PDZ domain and with

protein kinase C In cell biology, Protein kinase C, commonly abbreviated to PKC (EC 2.7.11.13), is a family of protein kinase enzymes that are involved in controlling the function of other proteins through the phosphorylation of hydroxyl groups of serine and ...

via its

C-terminal The C-terminus (also known as the carboxyl-terminus, carboxy-terminus, C-terminal tail, C-terminal end, or COOH-terminus) is the end of an amino acid chain (protein or polypeptide), terminated by a free carboxyl group (-COOH). When the protein is ...

LIM domain LIM domains are protein structural domains, composed of two contiguous zinc fingers, separated by a two-amino acid residue hydrophobic linker. The domain name is an acronym of the three genes in which it was first identified (LIN-11, Isl-1 an ...

s. The LIM domain is a

cysteine Cysteine (symbol Cys or C; ) is a semiessential proteinogenic amino acid with the formula . The thiol side chain in cysteine often participates in enzymatic reactions as a nucleophile. When present as a deprotonated catalytic residue, s ...

-rich motif defined by 50-60 amino acids containing two zinc-binding modules. This protein also interacts with all three members of the myozenin family. Human ZASP can exist in cardiac and skeletal cells as six distinct isoforms, based on alternative splicing of 16 exons. There are 2 ZASP short forms (Uniprot ID: O75112-6, 31.0 kDa, 283 amino acids; and Uniprot ID: O75112-5, 35.6 kDa, 330 amino acids); and 4 ZASP long forms (Uniprot ID: O75112-4, 42.8 kDa, 398 amino acids; Uniprot ID: O75112-3, 50.6 kDa, 470 amino acids; Uniprot ID: O75112-2, 66.6 kDa, 617 amino acids; and Uniprot ID: O75112, 77.1 kDa, 727 amino acids). All ZASP isoforms have an N-terminal

; internal, conserved sequences known as ZASP-like motifs (ZMs); and the four long isoforms have three

Function

ZASP functions to maintain structural integrity of sarcomeres during contraction, and has been shown to be involved in

protein kinase A In cell biology, protein kinase A (PKA) is a family of enzymes whose activity is dependent on cellular levels of cyclic AMP (cAMP). PKA is also known as cAMP-dependent protein kinase (). PKA has several functions in the cell, including regulatio ...

signaling. ZASP has also been shown to co-activate α5β1 integrins along with the protein

TLN1 Talin-1 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''TLN1'' gene. Talin-1 is ubiquitously expressed, and is localized to costamere structures in cardiac and skeletal muscle cells, and to focal adhesions in smooth muscle and non-muscle cells. Tal ...

Clinical significance

Mutations in ZASP have been associated with

myofibril A myofibril (also known as a muscle fibril or sarcostyle) is a basic rod-like organelle of a muscle cell. Skeletal muscles are composed of long, tubular cells known as muscle fibers, and these cells contain many chains of myofibrils. Each myofib ...

lar

myopathy In medicine, myopathy is a disease of the muscle in which the muscle fibers do not function properly. This results in muscular weakness. ''Myopathy'' means muscle disease (Greek : myo- ''muscle'' + patheia '' -pathy'' : ''suffering''). This mea ...

dilated cardiomyopathy Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is a condition in which the heart becomes enlarged and cannot pump blood effectively. Symptoms vary from none to feeling tired, leg swelling, and shortness of breath. It may also result in chest pain or fainting. Co ...

, arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy,

noncompaction cardiomyopathy Noncompaction cardiomyopathy (NCC) is a rare congenital disease of heart muscle that affects both children and adults. It results from abnormal prenatal development of heart muscle. During development, the majority of the heart muscle is a spo ...

, and

muscular dystrophy Muscular dystrophies (MD) are a genetically and clinically heterogeneous group of rare neuromuscular diseases that cause progressive weakness and breakdown of skeletal muscles over time. The disorders differ as to which muscles are primarily af ...

Interactions

The

of ZASP binds the

C-terminus The C-terminus (also known as the carboxyl-terminus, carboxy-terminus, C-terminal tail, C-terminal end, or COOH-terminus) is the end of an amino acid chain (protein or polypeptide), terminated by a free carboxyl group (-COOH). When the protein i ...

of alpha actinin-2 and ZMs bind the rod domain of alpha actinin-2. The

s have been shown to interact with

. The cardiac-specific region of ZASP encoded by exon 4 includes a ZP motif and binds a regulatory subunit of

References

External links

GeneReviews/NIH/NCBI/UW entry on Myofibrillar Myopathy
* * {{NLM content