Stahelin et al 1 Structural and Membrane Binding Analysis of the PX Domain of

Phox homology (PX) domains, which have been identified in a variety of proteins involved in cell signaling and membrane trafficking, have been shown to interact with phosphoinositides (PIs) with different affinities and specificities. To elucidate the structural origin of diverse PI specificities of PX domains, we determined the crystal structure of the PX domain from phosphoinositide 3-kinase C2α (PI3K-C2α), which binds phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate (PtdIns(4,5)P2). To delineate the mechanism by which this PX domain interacts with membranes, we measured the membrane binding of the wild type domain and mutants by surface plasmon resonance and monolaye