NMR studies of tandem WW domains of Nedd4 in complex with a PY motif-containing region of the epithelial sodium channel

Nedd4 (neuronal precursor cell-expressed developmentally down-regulated 4) is a ubiquitin-protein ligase containing multiple WW domains. We have previously demonstrated the association between the WW domains of Nedd4 and PPxY (PY) motifs of the epithelial sodium channel (ENaC). In this paper, we report the assignment of backbone 1Hα, 1HN, 15N, 13C', 13Cα, and aliphatic 13C resonances of a fragment of rat Nedd4 (rNedd4) containing the two C-terminal WW domains, WW(II+III), complexed to a PY motif-containing peptide derived from the β subunit of rat ENaC, the βP2 peptide. The secondary structures of these two WW domains, determined from chemical shifts of 13Cα and 13Cβ resonances, are virtually identical to those of the WW domains of the Yes-associated protein YAP65 and the peptidyl-prolyl isomerase Pin1. Triple resonance experiments that detect the 1Hα chemical shift were necessary to complete the chemical shift assignment, owing to the large number of proline residues in this fragment of rNedd4. A new experiment, which correlates sequential residues via their 15N nuclei and also detects 1Hα chemical shifts, is introduced and its utility for the chemical shift assignment of sequential proline residues is discussed. Data collected on the WW(II+III)-βP2 complex indicate that these WW domains have different affinities for the βP2 peptide.Key words: WW domain, PY motif, Nedd4, ENaC, NMR.