In molecular biology, the DEP domain (Dishevelled, Egl-10 and Pleckstrin domain) is a globular protein domain

Protein domain

A protein domain is a part of protein sequence and structure that can evolve, function, and exist independently of the rest of the protein chain. Each domain forms a compact three-dimensional structure and often can be independently stable and folded. Many proteins consist of several structural...

 of about 80 amino acids that is found in over 50 proteins involved in G-protein signalling pathways. It was named after the three protein

Protein

Proteins are biochemical compounds consisting of one or more polypeptides typically folded into a globular or fibrous form, facilitating a biological function. A polypeptide is a single linear polymer chain of amino acids bonded together by peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of...

s it was initially found in:

• Dishevelled
  Dishevelled
  Dishevelled is a family of proteins involved in canonical and non-canonical Wnt signalling pathways. Dsh is a cytoplasmic phosphoprotein that acts directly downstream of frizzled receptors...
  
   (Dsh and Dvl), which plays a key role in the transduction
  Signal transduction
  Signal transduction occurs when an extracellular signaling molecule activates a cell surface receptor. In turn, this receptor alters intracellular molecules creating a response...
  
   of the Wg/Wnt signal from the cell
  Cell (biology)
  The cell is the basic structural and functional unit of all known living organisms. It is the smallest unit of life that is classified as a living thing, and is often called the building block of life. The Alberts text discusses how the "cellular building blocks" move to shape developing embryos....
  
   surface to the nucleus
  Cell nucleus
  In cell biology, the nucleus is a membrane-enclosed organelle found in eukaryotic cells. It contains most of the cell's genetic material, organized as multiple long linear DNA molecules in complex with a large variety of proteins, such as histones, to form chromosomes. The genes within these...
  
  ; it is a segment polarity protein
  Segment polarity gene
  A segmentation gene is a generic term for a gene whose function is to specify tissue pattern in each repeated unit of a segmented organism. In the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, segment polarity genes help to define the anterior and posterior polarities within each embryonic parasegment by...
  
   required to establish coherent arrays of polarised cells and segments in embryos, and plays a role in wingless signalling.

• Egl-10, which regulate
  Transcriptional regulation
  Transcriptional regulation is the change in gene expression levels by altering transcription rates. -Regulation of transcription:Regulation of transcription controls when transcription occurs and how much RNA is created...
  
  s G-protein signalling
  Cell signaling
  Cell signaling is part of a complex system of communication that governs basic cellular activities and coordinates cell actions. The ability of cells to perceive and correctly respond to their microenvironment is the basis of development, tissue repair, and immunity as well as normal tissue...
  
   in the central nervous system
  Central nervous system
  The central nervous system is the part of the nervous system that integrates the information that it receives from, and coordinates the activity of, all parts of the bodies of bilaterian animals—that is, all multicellular animals except sponges and radially symmetric animals such as jellyfish...
  
  .

• Pleckstrin
  Pleckstrin
  Pleckstrin is a protein found in platelets. The name derives from platelet and leukocyte C kinase substrate and the KSTR string of amino acids.It is the source of the name pleckstrin homology domain....
  
  , the major substrate of protein kinase C
  Protein kinase C
  Protein kinase C also known as PKC is a family of enzymes that are involved in controlling the function of other proteins through the phosphorylation of hydroxyl groups of serine and threonine amino acid residues on these proteins. PKC enzymes in turn are activated by signals such as increases in...
  
   in platelets; Pleckstrin contains two PH
  Pleckstrin homology domain
  Pleckstrin homology domain is a protein domain of approximately 120 amino acids that occurs in a wide range of proteins involved in intracellular signaling or as constituents of the cytoskeleton....
  
   domains
  Protein domain
  A protein domain is a part of protein sequence and structure that can evolve, function, and exist independently of the rest of the protein chain. Each domain forms a compact three-dimensional structure and often can be independently stable and folded. Many proteins consist of several structural...
  
   flanking the DEP domain.

Mammalian regulators of G-protein signalling also contain these domains, and regulate signal transduction

Signal transduction

Signal transduction occurs when an extracellular signaling molecule activates a cell surface receptor. In turn, this receptor alters intracellular molecules creating a response...

 by increasing the GTPase

GTPase

GTPases are a large family of hydrolase enzymes that can bind and hydrolyze guanosine triphosphate . The GTP binding and hydrolysis takes place in the highly conserved G domain common to all GTPases.-Functions:...

 activity of G-protein alpha subunits, thereby driving them into their inactive GDP-bound form. It has been proposed that the DEP domain could play a selective role in targeting DEP domain-containing proteins to specific subcellular membranous sites, perhaps even to specific G protein-coupled signaling pathways. Nuclear magnetic resonance

Nuclear magnetic resonance

Nuclear magnetic resonance is a physical phenomenon in which magnetic nuclei in a magnetic field absorb and re-emit electromagnetic radiation...

spectroscopy has revealed that the DEP domain comprises a three-helix bundle, a beta-hairpin 'arm' composed of two beta-strands and two short beta-strands in the C-terminal region.