Large-scale analysis of redox-sensitive conditionally disordered protein regions reveal their widespread nature and key roles in high-level eukaryotic processes

Gábor Erdos; Bálint Mészáros; Dana Reichmann; Zsuzsanna Dosztányi

Analysis of network level processes shows that redox-sensitive conditionally disordered proteins are heavily involved in the regulation of key processes. Cell growth is governed by several signals, and the processing of various growth factors (such as TGFbeta) and retinoic acid is clearly dependent on conditional disorder, with a slight preference for disulfide bonded proteins. In contrast, steroid hormone signal processing mainly involves intracellular, metal ion coordinating structural switches. Generic cell-cell communication involving various members of the integrin receptor family relies on a balanced mix of disulfide bonded and metal ion coordinating structural elements. A clear exception to this rule is the interaction between nerve cells, as the assembly and organization of synapses very heavily utilizes extracellular conditionally disordered proteins, stabilized by disulfide bonds.