Worked example: RPTOR

Species: human

Worked example: RPTOR / Raptor (Q8N122)

Back to the project page.

Third worked example and the second driving a new review of a previously
unreviewed gene (after LDLRAP1). RPTOR is the
prototype of the GO:0140767 enzyme-substrate adaptor activity child — the
case the project's modelling rule singles out, where the adaptor's job is to
bring an enzyme together with its substrate (provides input for), not to
regulate a partner's activity. See the
full review of RPTOR (linked from the gene symbol) and its notes at
genes/human/RPTOR/RPTOR-notes.md.

The gene in one line

RPTOR (Raptor) is the non-catalytic substrate-presenting subunit of mTORC1.
UniProt states it plainly: within the complex RPTOR acts both as a recruitment
adapter (binding the Rag GTPases to dock mTORC1 at the lysosome) and as a
substrate-specific adapter that binds TOS-motif proteins (4E-BP1, S6K1)
and directs them towards the active site of the MTOR kinase domain
(UniProtKB:Q8N122, CC:FUNCTION; mechanism in PMID:12747827, PMID:24403073).

Starting state (GOA, 170 rows)

What the decision rules produced

170 annotations → ACCEPT 82, MODIFY 30, REMOVE 32, KEEP_AS_NON_CORE 22,
MARK_AS_OVER_ANNOTATED 4.

The instructive part is how the 61 protein binding rows split by partner
identity
— the single most useful move on an adaptor. The key discipline: a
binary interaction (an IPI hit) evidences binding, not the bridging
activity, so each row is refined to a binding term the partner supports
(or removed), and the GO:0140767 enzyme-substrate adaptor activity is left to
the three IDA rows that actually assay the bridging:

Interaction partner Rows Call Term
MTOR kinase (P42345, + mouse ortholog) 24 MODIFY GO:0019901 protein kinase binding (the enzyme side)
S6K1 / RPS6KB1 (P23443), a protein kinase 3 MODIFY GO:0019901 protein kinase binding
4E-BP1 (Q13541), PRAS40 (Q96B36) — TOS-motif substrates, not kinases 8 REMOVE bare protein binding (no specific binding term; the adaptor activity is already asserted by IDA)
everything else (MLST8, BRAF, singletons) 24 REMOVE bare protein binding, per policy

(The rows sum to 59, not 61: the 61 GOA GO:0005515 lines collapse to 59
distinct reference+partner entries in the review, as with GRB2.)

That triage reconstructs the mechanism without over-claiming: RPTOR binds the
MTOR kinase and the kinase substrate S6K1 (→ protein kinase binding), and
its binding of the non-enzyme substrates 4E-BP1/PRAS40 is recorded as the
enzyme-substrate adaptor activity only where an assay (IDA) demonstrates the
bridging — not inferred from a two-hybrid hit.

Core functions settled on the two adapter roles: GO:0140767 enzyme-substrate
adaptor activity (substrate presentation to MTOR) and GO:0030674
protein-macromolecule adaptor activity (Rag-GTPase-mediated recruitment to the
lysosomal membrane), both in_complex GO:0031931 TORC1 complex.

What this example adds beyond GRB2 and LDLRAP1

Caveat

RPTOR is a heavily-curated hub (170 annotations, 91 references, most not in the
local publication cache), so many experimental ACCEPT rows are deferred to the
original curators without an added verbatim quote (the validator emits advisory
supported_by warnings for these). The core-function claims and the partner-based
MODIFY calls are grounded in cached, quote-verified references.