Nuclear localization of clathrin involves a labile helix outside the trimerization domain.
Ybe, J.A., Fontaine, S.N., Stone, T., Nix, J., Lin, X., Mishra, S.(2013) FEBS Lett 587: 142-149
- PubMed: 23178717 
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.febslet.2012.11.005
- Primary Citation of Related Structures:  
3QIL - PubMed Abstract: 
Clathrin is a trimeric protein involved in receptor-mediated-endocytosis, but can function as a non-trimer outside of endocytosis. We have discovered that the subcellular distribution of a clathrin cysteine mutant we previously studied is altered and a proportion is also localized to nuclear spaces. MALS shows C1573A hub is a mixture of trimer-like and detrimerized molecules. The X-ray structure of the trimerization domain reveals that without light chains, a helix harboring cysteine-1573 is reoriented. We propose clathrin has a detrimerization switch, which suggests clathrin topology can be altered naturally for new functions.
Organizational Affiliation: 
Department of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, Indiana University, Bloomington, 212 S. Hawthorne Drive, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA. jybe@indiana.edu