PDIa family, C-terminal TRX domain (a') subfamily; composed of the C-terminal redox active a' domains of PDI, ERp72, ERp57 (or ERp60) and EFP1. PDI, ERp72 and ERp57 are endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-resident eukaryotic proteins involved in oxidative protein folding. They are oxidases, catalyzing the formation of disulfide bonds of newly synthesized polypeptides in the ER. They also exhibit reductase activity in acting as isomerases to correct any non-native disulfide bonds, as well as chaperone activity to prevent protein aggregation and facilitate the folding of newly synthesized proteins. PDI and ERp57 have the abb'a' domain structure (where a and a' are redox active TRX domains while b and b' are redox inactive TRX-like domains). PDI also contains an acidic region (c domain) after the a' domain that is absent in ERp57. ERp72 has an additional a domain at the N-terminus (a"abb'a' domain structure). ERp57 interacts with the lectin chaperones, calnexin and calreticulin, and specifically promotes the oxidative folding of glycoproteins, while PDI shows a wider substrate specificity. ERp72 associates with several ER chaperones and folding factors to form complexes in the ER that bind nascent proteins. EFP1 is a binding partner protein of thyroid oxidase, which is responsible for the generation of hydrogen peroxide, a crucial substrate of thyroperoxidase, which functions to iodinate thyroglobulin and synthesize thyroid hormones.
Comment:The N-terminal cysteine in the CXXC motif is essential for both oxidase and isomerase activities.
Comment:The C-terminal cysteine in the CXXC motif is essential for oxidase activity. It is important, although not required, for isomerase activity. It provides PDI with an escape mechanism from mixed disulfide intermediates that isomerize slowly.
Comment:A conserved arginine affects the pKa value of the active site cysteine, and is critical in the reoxidation function of PDI, ERp57 and ERp72.
Jiyao W et al.(2023). "The conserved domain database in 2023.",