Characterization of nuclear import and export signals determining the subcellular localization of WD repeat-containing protein 42A (WDR42A)

WD repeat-containing protein 42A (WDR42A) is a member of the WD40-repeat proteins. Here, we investigated the localization pattern of WDR42A in living cells. By mutational analysis, a nuclear localization signal, 114PRRRVQRKR122, was for the first time determined. The dominant negative, co-immunoprecipitation and GST pull-down results further demonstrated that the nuclear import of WDR42A was mediated by karyopherin-α1/β1 in conjunction with the GTPase Ran. Additionally, a nuclear export signal, 39IEVEASDLSLSL50, was verified to be a functional NES, which mediated the nuclear export through Chromosome Region Maintenance 1 dependent pathway. All these data suggest WDR42A is a nucleocytoplasmic shuttling protein. Structured summary of protein interactions: Karyopherin alpha-1 physically interacts with WDR42A by anti tag co-immunoprecipitation (View interaction) WDR42A physically interacts with Karyopherin alpha-1 by pull down (View interaction) Karyopherin beta-1 physically interacts with WDR42A by anti tag co-immunoprecipitation (View interaction) WDR42A physically interacts with CRM1 by anti tag co-immunoprecipitation (View interaction) WDR42A and RAN colocalize by fluorescence microscopy (View interaction).