WIDESPREAD OCCURRENCE OF A HIGHLY CONSERVED RING-H2 ZINC-FINGER MOTIFIN THE MODEL-PLANT ARABIDOPSIS-THALIANA

Several novel Arabidopsis thaliana proteins containing a RING-H2 zinc Finger motif were predicted after database searches. Alignment of 29 R ING-H2 finger sequences shows that the motif is strikingly conserved i n otherwise unrelated proteins. Only short, non-conserved polar/charge d sequences distinguish these domains. The RING-H2 domain is most ofte n present in multi-domain structures, a number of which are likely to contain a membrane-spanning region or an additional zinc finger. Howev er, there are several small (126-200 residues) proteins consisting of an N-terminal domain, rich in aliphatic residues, and a C-terminal RIN G-H2 domain. Reverse-transcription PCR suggests that the RING-H2 genes are widely expressed at low levels. (C) 1998 Federation of European B iochemical Societies.