New paper describes first structures of protein complexes of the p75NTR death domain

Our latest paper describes new NMR structures of the death domain in complex with downstream interactions RhoGDI and RIP2 as well as the death domain dimer. These are the first structural insights into p75NTR signaling and reveal many surprises for the death domain superfamily. The paper is now available online at eLife. 

Death domains (DDs) mediate assembly of oligomeric complexes for activation of downstream signaling pathways through incompletely understood mechanisms. We report structures of complexes formed by the DD of p75 neurotrophin receptor (p75NTR) with RhoGDI, for activation of the RhoA pathway, with caspase recruitment domain (CARD) of RIP2 kinase, for activation of the NF-kB pathway, and with itself, revealing how DD dimerization controls access of intracellular effectors to the receptor. RIP2 CARD and RhoGDI bind to p75NTR DD at partially overlapping epitopes with over 100-fold difference in affinity, revealing the mechanism by which RIP2 recruitment displaces RhoGDI upon ligand binding. The p75NTR DD forms non-covalent, low-affinity symmetric dimers in solution. The dimer interface overlaps with RIP2 CARD but not RhoGDI binding sites, supporting a model of receptor activation triggered by separation of DDs. These structures reveal how competitive protein-protein interactions orchestrate the hierarchical activation of downstream pathways in non-catalytic receptors.