| VHS | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 crystal structure of the vhs and fyve tandem domains of hrs, a protein involved in membrane trafficking and signal transduction | |||||||||
| Identifiers | |||||||||
| Symbol | VHS | ||||||||
| Pfam | PF00790 | ||||||||
| Pfam clan | CL0009 | ||||||||
| InterPro | IPR002014 | ||||||||
| SMART | VHS | ||||||||
| SCOP2 | 1elk / SCOPe / SUPFAM | ||||||||
| |||||||||
In molecular biology, the VHS protein domain is approximately 140 residues long. Its name is an acronym derived from its occurrence in VPS-27, Hrs and STAM. It is a domain commonly found in the N-terminus of many proteins. [1]
VHS domains are thought to be very important in vesicular trafficking, in particular, aiding membrane targeting and cargo recognition role. [1]
Resolution of the crystal structure of the VHS domain of Drosophila Hrs and human TOM1 revealed that it consists of eight helices arranged in a double-layer superhelix. [2] The existence of conserved patches of residues on the domain surface suggests that VHS domains may be involved in protein-protein recognition and docking. Overall, sequence similarity is low (approx 25%) amongst domain family members.
Based on regions surrounding the domain, VHS-proteins can be divided into 4 groups: [1]
The VHS domain is always found at the N-terminus of proteins suggesting that such topology is important for function. The domain is considered to have a general membrane targeting/cargo recognition role in vesicular trafficking. [3]