Structural Insight into Anaphase Promoting Complex 3 Structure and Docking with a Natural Inhibitory Compound.

BACKGROUND: Anaphase promoting complex (APC) is the biggest Cullin-RING E3 ligase and is very important in cell cycle control; many anti-cancer agents target this. APC controls the onset of chromosome separation and mitotic exit through securin and cyclin B degradation, respectively. Its APC3 subunit identifies the APC activators-Cdh1 and Cdc20.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: The structural model of the APC3 subunit of APC was developed by means of computational techniques; the binding of a natural inhibitory compound to APC3 was also investigated.

RESULTS: It was found that APC3 structure consists of numerous helices organized in anti-parallel and the overall model is superhelical of tetratrico-peptide repeat (TPR) domains. Furthermore, binding pocket of the natural inhibitory compound as APC3 inhibitor was shown.

CONCLUSION: The findings are beneficial to understand the mechanism of the APC activation and design inhibitory compounds.