Structural and functional in silico analysis of LRRK2 missense substitutions

Mol Biol Rep. 2014;41(4):2529-42. doi: 10.1007/s11033-014-3111-z. Epub 2014 Feb 2.

Abstract

The LRRK2 gene (Leucine-Rich Repeat Kinase 2, PARK8) is mutated in a significant number of cases of autosomal dominant Parkinson's disease (PD) and in some sporadic cases of late-onset PD. LRRK2 is a large, complex protein that comprises several interaction domains: armadillo, ankyrin, leucine-rich repeats and WD40 domains; two catalytic domains: ROC-GTPase and serine/threonine kinase; and a COR domain (unknown function). Pathogenic mutations are scattered all over the domains of LRRK2, although the prevalence of mutations in some domains is higher (ROC-GTPase, COR and kinase). In this work, we model the structure of each domain to predict and explore the effects of described missense mutations and polymorphisms. The results allow us to postulate the possible effects of pathogenic mutations in the function of the protein, and hypothesize the importance of some polymorphisms that have not been linked directly to PD, but act as risk factors for the disease. In our analysis, we also study the effects of PD-related mutations in the kinase domain structure and in the phosphorylation of the activation loop to determine effects on kinase activity.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Amino Acid Substitution
  • Humans
  • Leucine-Rich Repeat Serine-Threonine Protein Kinase-2
  • Models, Molecular*
  • Molecular Dynamics Simulation
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Mutation, Missense
  • Parkinson Disease / genetics
  • Parkinson Disease / metabolism
  • Protein Interaction Domains and Motifs
  • Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / chemistry*
  • Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / genetics
  • Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / metabolism
  • Protein Stability
  • Protein Structure, Tertiary
  • Structure-Activity Relationship*

Substances

  • LRRK2 protein, human
  • Leucine-Rich Repeat Serine-Threonine Protein Kinase-2
  • Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases