SARM1 (sterile alpha and TIR motif-containing protein 1) is a TIR (Toll-interleukin 1 receptor) adaptor that downregulates Toll-like receptor signalling [, , ]. It plays a role in innate immunity []. It is also an essential mediator of axon degeneration know as Wallerian degeneration [, ]. A specific motif in its TIR domain is responsible for NAD+ loss and injury-induced SARM1 activation [, ].
This entry represents the Toll/interleukin-1 receptor (TIR) domain, which is the conserved cytoplasmic domain of approximately 200 amino acids, found in Toll-like receptors (TLRs) and their adaptors. Proteins containing this domain can also be found in plants, where they mediate disease resistance [], and in bacteria, where they have been associated with virulence. Interestingly, the TIR domains from proteins present in all three major domains of life have been shown to cleave nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+). In plants, TIR domains require self-association interfaces and a putative catalytic glutamic acid that is conserved in both bacterial TIR NAD+-cleaving enzymes (NADases) and the mammalian SARM1 (sterile alpha and TIR motif containing 1) NADase for cell death induction and NAD+ cleavage activity [, ]. It has been suggested that the primordial function of the TIR domain is the enzymatic cleavage of NAD+ and that the scaffolding function, which is best characterised in mammalian TIR domains involved in innate immunity, may be a more recent evolutionary adaptation [].Toll proteins or Toll-like receptors (TLRs) and the interleukin-1 receptor (IL-1R) superfamily are both involved in innate antibacterial and antifungalimmunity in insects as well as in mammals. These receptors share a conserved cytoplasmic domain of approximately 200 amino acids, known as the Toll/IL-1R homologous region (TIR). The similarity between TLRs and IL-1Rs is not restricted to sequence homology since these proteins also share a similar signalling pathway. They both induce the activation of a Rel type transcription factor via an adaptor protein and a protein kinase []. Interestingly, MyD88, a cytoplasmic adaptor protein found in mammals, contains a TIR domain associated to a DEATH domain [, , ]. Besides the mammalian and Drosophila proteins, a TIR domain is also found in a number of plant cytoplasmic proteins implicated in host defense [].Site directed mutagenesis and deletion analysis have shown that the TIR domain is essential for Toll and IL-1R activities. Sequence analysis have revealed the presence of three highly conserved regions among the different members of the family: box 1 (FDAFISY), box 2 (GYKLC-RD-PG), and box 3 (a conserved W surrounded by basic residues). It has been proposed that boxes 1 and 2 are involved in the binding of proteins involved in signalling, whereas box 3 is primarily involved in directing localization of receptor, perhaps through interactions with cytoskeletal element [].Resolution of the crystal structures of the TIR domains of human Toll-like receptors 1 and 2 has shown that they contain a central five-stranded parallel β-sheet that is surrounded by a total of five helices on both sides, with connecting loop structures []. The loop regions appear to play an important role in mediating the specificity of protein-protein interactions [, ].
