Signal recognition particle (SRP) receptor, also called the docking protein, is a dimer composed of 2 different subunits that are associated exclusively with the rough ER in

mammal A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the Class (biology), class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three ...

ian

cell Cell most often refers to: * Cell (biology), the functional basic unit of life * Cellphone, a phone connected to a cellular network * Clandestine cell, a penetration-resistant form of a secret or outlawed organization * Electrochemical cell, a de ...

s. Its main function is to identify the SRP units. SRP (signal recognition particle) is a

molecule A molecule is a group of two or more atoms that are held together by Force, attractive forces known as chemical bonds; depending on context, the term may or may not include ions that satisfy this criterion. In quantum physics, organic chemi ...

that helps the

ribosome Ribosomes () are molecular machine, macromolecular machines, found within all cell (biology), cells, that perform Translation (biology), biological protein synthesis (messenger RNA translation). Ribosomes link amino acids together in the order s ...

-mRNA-

polypeptide Peptides are short chains of amino acids linked by peptide bonds. A polypeptide is a longer, continuous, unbranched peptide chain. Polypeptides that have a molecular mass of 10,000 Da or more are called proteins. Chains of fewer than twenty ...

complexes to settle down on the

membrane A membrane is a selective barrier; it allows some things to pass through but stops others. Such things may be molecules, ions, or other small particles. Membranes can be generally classified into synthetic membranes and biological membranes. Bi ...

of the

endoplasmic reticulum The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is a part of a transportation system of the eukaryote, eukaryotic cell, and has many other important functions such as protein folding. The word endoplasmic means "within the cytoplasm", and reticulum is Latin for ...

. The eukaryotic SRP receptor (termed SR) is a heterodimer of SR-alpha (70 kDa; SRPRA) and SR-beta (25 kDa; SRPRB), both of which contain a GTP-binding domain, while the prokaryotic SRP receptor comprises only the monomeric loosely membrane-associated SR-alpha homologue FtsY ().

SRX domain

SR-alpha regulates the targeting of SRP-ribosome-nascent polypeptide complexes to the

translocon The translocon (also known as a translocator or translocation channel) is a complex of proteins associated with the translocation of polypeptides across membranes. In eukaryotes the term translocon most commonly refers to the complex that transpor ...

. SR-alpha binds to the SRP54 subunit of the SRP complex. The SR-beta subunit is a transmembrane GTPase that anchors the SR-alpha subunit (a peripheral membrane GTPase) to the ER membrane. SR-beta interacts with the N-terminal SRX-domain of SR-alpha, which is not present in the bacterial FtsY homologue. SR-beta also functions in recruiting the SRP-nascent polypeptide to the protein-conducting channel. The SRX family represents eukaryotic homologues of the alpha subunit of the SR receptor. Members of this entry consist of a central six-stranded anti-parallel beta-sheet sandwiched by helix alpha1 on one side and helices alpha2-alpha4 on the other. They interact with the small GTPase SR-beta, forming a complex that matches a class of small G protein-effector complexes, including Rap-Raf, Ras-PI3K(gamma), Ras-RalGDS, and Arl2-PDE(delta). On the C-terminal of SR-alpha and FtsY is the NG domain similar to SRP54.

NG domain

The receptor binds to SPR54/Ffh by the "NG domain", a combination of a 4-helical-bundle "N" domain () and a

GTPase GTPases are a large family of hydrolase enzymes that bind to the nucleotide guanosine triphosphate (GTP) and hydrolyze it to guanosine diphosphate (GDP). The GTP binding and hydrolysis takes place in the highly conserved P-loop "G domain", a ...

"G" domain (), shared by both proteins. The bound structure is a quasi-symmetric heterodimer termed a targeting complex.

Signal recognition particle (SRP)

The

signal recognition particle The signal recognition particle (SRP) is an abundant, cytosolic, universally conserved ribonucleoprotein (protein-RNA complex) that recognizes and targets specific proteins to the endoplasmic reticulum in eukaryotes and the plasma membrane ...

(SRP) is a multimeric protein, which along with its conjugate receptor (SR), is involved in targeting secretory proteins to the rough endoplasmic reticulum (RER) membrane in eukaryotes, or to the plasma membrane in prokaryotes. SRP recognises the signal sequence of the nascent polypeptide on the ribosome, retards its elongation, and docks the SRP-ribosome-polypeptide complex to the RER membrane via the SR receptor. SRP consists of six polypeptides (SRP9, SRP14, SRP19, SRP54, SRP68 and SRP72) and a single 300 nucleotide 7S RNA molecule. The RNA component catalyses the interaction of SRP with its SR receptor. In higher eukaryotes, the SRP complex consists of the Alu domain and the S domain linked by the SRP RNA. The Alu domain consists of a heterodimer of SRP9 and SRP14 bound to the 5' and 3' terminal sequences of SRP RNA. This domain is necessary for retarding the elongation of the nascent polypeptide chain, which gives SRP time to dock the ribosome-polypeptide complex to the RER membrane.

References

{{InterPro content, IPR015284 Receptors Protein targeting Single-pass transmembrane proteins