Cysteine-rich motifs in proteins

Cysteine-rich motifs are short, conserved sequence patterns with multiple cysteine residues found in a wide range of proteins. These motifs often contribute to the formation of disulfide bonds that stabilize protein structure, or serve as sites for metal (e.g., zinc) coordination in domains like zinc fingers, or in mediating interactions with other proteins, lipids, or carbohydrates[2][3][5][6]. Such motifs are found in diverse proteins, including extracellular matrix proteins, ion channel regulators, receptors (such as receptor-like kinases), signaling ligands (such as chemokines), secreted proteins with antimicrobial activity, and more[2][5][6][7]. They are not a single druggable target, but can define families of proteins with therapeutic interest depending on the biological context. This entry represents a class of structural motifs, not a specific molecular target or protein, and thus does not meet the definition of a canonical target for drug development.

Other names

Cysteine-rich domainsCR domainsCR motifsCys-rich motifs