Journal: bioRxiv
Article Title: Cryo-EM structures of the CDK11-cyclin L-SAP30BP complex reveal mechanisms of CDK11 regulation
doi: 10.64898/2026.03.24.713564
Figure Lengend Snippet: ( a ) Bound AMP-PNP in the active site of CDK11 (green). Residues involved in interactions with the nucleotide are shown as sticks, hydrogen bonds are indicated as black dashed lines, and magnesium ions are shown as green spheres. ( b ) The pseudo-substrate density occupying the substrate binding site of CDK11 is shown in light green (CDK11 green, T-loop blue, SAP30BP yellow, cyclin L purple). ( c ) Cryo-EM map shown as grey mesh and semi-transparent surface, with fitted model coloured as in b. ( d ) Molecular model of the CDK11 pseudo-substrate segment (residues 751-762, light green) occluding the substrate binding site. ( e ) CDK2-cyclin A (cyan and yellow) in complex with a substrate peptide (sand) in the same view as panel C (PDB ID 3QHR) . ( f ) Kinase assay using an SF3B1 1-463 substrate and trimeric kinase complexes containing CDK11B p110 wild type (WT) and the 1-743, S752E, and S752A variants. SF3B1 phospho-T313 (P-T313) was detected using Western blot. A loading control stained with Ponceau S is provided. ( g ) Quantification of Western blot band intensities, presented as the mean ± standard deviation and individual data points of N = 4 kinase assay technical replicates. The relative activity of the wild-type complex at 60 min was set to 1. The significance level for activity comparisons between complexes, determined by 2-way ANOVA and Tukey’s multiple comparisons test, is provided (*: p < 0.05; **: p < 0.01). ( h ) Schematic illustration of the effect of pseudo-substrate phosphorylation on the efficiency of binding of a simple model substrate to CDK11. Hypothetical models for effects on substrate specificity in the context of more complex substrates are shown in Supplementary Fig. 4e, f. The substrate binding site is schematically represented as a cleft, and the active site is indicated by a stylised ATP molecule.
Article Snippet: CDK2 was expressed with an N-terminal His 10 -tag (Addgene plasmid #79726; http://n2t.net/addgene:79726 ; RRID:Addgene_79726, provided by John Chodera, Nicholas Levinson, and Markus Seeliger) , and cyclin A2 was expressed with an N-terminal His 6 -tag.
Techniques: Binding Assay, Cryo-EM Sample Prep, Kinase Assay, Western Blot, Control, Staining, Standard Deviation, Activity Assay, Phospho-proteomics