In molecular biology, the VHS

protein domain In molecular biology, a protein domain is a region of a protein's Peptide, polypeptide chain that is self-stabilizing and that Protein folding, folds independently from the rest. Each domain forms a compact folded Protein tertiary structure, thre ...

is approximately 140 residues long. Its name is an

acronym An acronym is a type of abbreviation consisting of a phrase whose only pronounced elements are the initial letters or initial sounds of words inside that phrase. Acronyms are often spelled with the initial Letter (alphabet), letter of each wor ...

derived from its occurrence in VPS-27, Hrs and STAM. It is a domain commonly found in the

N-terminus 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 ...

of many proteins.

Function

VHS domains are thought to be very important in vesicular trafficking, in particular, aiding membrane targeting and cargo recognition role.

Structure

Resolution of the crystal

structure A structure is an arrangement and organization of interrelated elements in a material object or system, or the object or system so organized. Material structures include man-made objects such as buildings and machines and natural objects such as ...

of the VHS domain of ''

Drosophila ''Drosophila'' (), from Ancient Greek δρόσος (''drósos''), meaning "dew", and φίλος (''phílos''), meaning "loving", is a genus of fly, belonging to the family Drosophilidae, whose members are often called "small fruit flies" or p ...

'' Hrs and human

TOM1 Target of Myb protein 1 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''TOM1'' gene. The specific function of this gene has not yet been determined, yet it may involve the translocation of growth factor receptor complexes to the lysosome for degra ...

revealed that it consists of eight

helices A helix (; ) is a shape like a cylindrical coil spring or the thread of a machine screw. It is a type of smoothness (mathematics), smooth space curve with tangent lines at a constant angle to a fixed axis. Helices are important in biology, as ...

arranged in a double-layer superhelix. The existence of conserved patches of residues on the domain surface suggests that VHS domains may be involved in protein-protein recognition and docking. Overall,

sequence In mathematics, a sequence is an enumerated collection of objects in which repetitions are allowed and order matters. Like a set, it contains members (also called ''elements'', or ''terms''). The number of elements (possibly infinite) is cal ...

similarity is low (approx 25%) amongst domain family members.

Classification

Based on regions surrounding the domain, VHS-proteins can be divided into 4 groups: * STAM/EAST/

STAM2 Signal transducing adapter molecule 2 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''STAM2'' gene. Function The protein encoded by this gene is closely related to STAM, an adaptor protein involved in the downstream signaling of cytokine rece ...

(Hbp) which all share the domain composition VHS- SH3- ITAM and carry one or two

ubiquitin-interacting motif In molecular biology, the Ubiquitin-Interacting Motif (UIM), or 'LALAL-motif', is a sequence motif of about 20 amino acid residues, which was first described in the 26S proteasome subunit PSD4/RPN-10 that is known to recognise ubiquitin. In additi ...

s *Proteins with a

FYVE domain In molecular biology the FYVE zinc finger domain is named after the four cysteine-rich proteins: Fab 1 (yeast orthologue of PIKfyve), YOTB, Vac 1 (vesicle transport protein), and EEA1, in which it has been found. FYVE domains bind phosphatidyli ...

INTERPRO
C-terminal to VHS which also carry one or two ubiquitin-interacting motifs *GGA proteins with a domain composition VHS-GAT (GGA and Tom1) homology domain *VHS domain alone or in combination with domains other than those listed above The VHS domain is always found at the N-terminus of proteins suggesting that such topology is important for function. The domain is considered to have a general

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 ...

targeting/cargo recognition role in vesicular trafficking.

References

{{InterPro content, IPR002014 Protein families Protein domains