Structural and Functional Analysis of Saccharomyces cerevisiae Mob1

The Mob proteins function as activator subunits for the Dbf2/Dbf20 family of protein kinases. Human and Xenopus Mob1 protein structures corresponding to the most conserved C-terminal core, but lacking the variable N-terminal region, have been reported and provide a framework for understanding the mechanism of Dbf2/Dbf20 regulation. Here, we report the 2.0 Å X-ray crystal structure of Saccharomyces cerevisiae Mob1 containing both the conserved C-terminal core and the variable N-terminal region. Within the N-terminal region, three novel structural elements are observed; namely, an α-helix denoted H0, a strand-like element denoted S0 and a short β strand denoted S-1. Helix H0 associates in an intermolecular manner with a second Mob1 molecule to form a Mob1 homodimer. Strand S0 binds to the core domain in an intramolecular manner across a putative Dbf2 binding site mapped by Mob1 temperature-sensitive alleles and NMR binding experiments. In vivo functional analysis demonstrates that Mob1 mutants that target helix H0 or its reciprocal binding site are biologically compromised. The N-terminal region of Mob1 thus contains structural elements that are functionally important.