Crystal structure of the dimeric protein core of decorin, the archetypal small leucine-rich repeat proteoglycan
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Decorin is a ubiquitous extracellular matrix proteoglycan with a variety of important biological functions that are mediated by its interactions with extracellular matrix proteins, cytokines, and cell surface receptors. Decorin is the prototype of the family of small leucine-rich repeat proteoglycans and proteins (SLRPs), characterized by a protein core composed of leucine-rich repeats (LRRs), flanked by two cysteine-rich regions. We report here the crystal structure of the dimeric protein core of decorin, the best characterized member of the SLRP family. Each monomer adopts the curved solenoid fold characteristic of LRR domains, with a parallel beta-sheet on the inside interwoven with loops containing short segments of beta-strands, 3(10) helices, and polyproline II helices on the outside. Two main features are unique to this structure. First, decorin dimerizes through the concave surfaces of the LRR domains, which have been implicated previously in protein-ligand interactions. The amount of surface buried in this dimer rivals the buried surfaces of some of the highest-affinity macromolecular complexes reported to date. Second, the C-terminal region adopts an unusual capping motif that involves a laterally extended LRR and a disulfide bond. This motif seems to be unique to SLRPs and has not been observed in any other LRR protein structure to date. Possible implications of these features for decorin ligand binding and SLRP function are discussed.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.002 | 0.001 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".