Molecular Immunology Research Group Researchgroup

Molecular scaffolds are crossroads where parallel signal transduction pathways of vital cellular functions including cellular attachment, or migration are integrated. Scaffold proteins usually consist of multiple domains that can serve independently or cooperatively as docking sites that recruit the appropriate set of proteins in a temporally and spatially ordered fashion. The Pleckstrin homology (PH) and Phox homology (PX) domains bind different phosphoinositides and are believed to be responsible for anchoring adaptor proteins to various microdomains of the cell membrane. PX-domains are frequently found in combination with Src-homology3 (SH3) domains that bind to proline-rich sequences. Although the molecular details of interaction between PX-domain and phospoinositides are well-mapped, the complexity of the molecular interactions and the in vivo functions of this PX/SH3 protein module are not well understood.