The density regulated protein (DENR) forms a stable heterodimer with malignant T-cell-amplified sequence 1 (MCT-1) which interacts with the 40S ribosomal subunit during initiation, reinitiation and recycling stages, playing a role in regulation of non-canonical translation initiation and ribosomal recycling [1]. This entry represents the N-terminal domain of DENR, containing a zinc ion-binding site, which preserves the structure of DENR's MCT-1-binding interface that is essential for the dimerization [1-3]. DENR likely coordinates the Zn ion mainly via three rather than four cysteines [3].

1: Crystal structure of the C-terminal domain of DENR. Lomakin IB, De S, Wang J, Borkar AN, Steitz TA; Comput Struct Biotechnol J. 2020;18:696-704. PMID:32257053

2: Crystal structure of the DENR-MCT-1 complex revealed zinc-binding site essential for heterodimer formation. Lomakin IB, Dmitriev SE, Steitz TA; Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2019;116:528-533. PMID:30584092

3: DENR-MCTS1 heterodimerization and tRNA recruitment are required for translation reinitiation. Ahmed YL, Schleich S, Bohlen J, Mandel N, Simon B, Sinning I, Teleman AA; PLoS Biol. 2018;16:e2005160. PMID:29889857