InterPro domain: IPR020472

WD-40 repeats (also known as WD or beta-transducin repeats) are short ~40 amino acid motifs, often terminating in a Trp-Asp (W-D) dipeptide. WD40 repeats usually assume a 7-8 bladed beta-propeller fold, but proteins have been found with 4 to 16 repeated units, which also form a circularised beta-propeller structure. WD-repeat proteins are a large family found in all eukaryotes and are implicated in a variety of functions ranging from signal transduction and transcription regulation to cell cycle control and apoptosis. Repeated WD40 motifs act as a site for protein-protein or protein-DNA interaction, and proteins containing WD40 repeats are known to serve as platforms for the assembly of protein complexes or mediators of transient interplay among other proteins [ 1 ]. The specificity of the proteins is determined by the sequences outside the repeats themselves. Examples of such complexes are G proteins (beta subunit is a beta-propeller), TAFII transcription factor, and E3 ubiquitin ligase [ 2 , 3 ]. In Arabidopsis spp., several WD40-containing proteins act as key regulators of plant-specific developmental events.

This entry represents a region that spans the WD-40 repeats in members of the WD repeat G protein beta family.

1. WD40 Repeat Proteins: Signalling Scaffold with Diverse Functions. Protein J. 37, 391-406
2. WD-repeat proteins: structure characteristics, biological function, and their involvement in human diseases. Cell. Mol. Life Sci. 58, 2085-97
3. The WD repeat: a common architecture for diverse functions. Trends Biochem. Sci. 24, 181-5