TDP-43 is an important pathological protein that aggregates in the diseased neuronal cells and is linked to various neurodegenerative disorders. In normal cells, TDP-43 is primarily an RNA-binding protein; however, how the dimeric TDP-43 binds RNA via its two RNA recognition motifs, RRM1 and RRM2, is not clear. Here we report the crystal structure of human TDP-43 RRM1 in complex with a single-stranded DNA showing that RRM1 binds the nucleic acid extensively not only by the conserved β-sheet residues but also by the loop residues. Mutational and biochemical assays further reveal that both RRMs in TDP-43 dimers participate in binding of UG-rich RNA or TG-rich DNA with RRM1 playing a dominant role and RRM2 playing a supporting role. Moreover, RRM1 of the amyotrophic lateral sclerosis-linked mutant D169G binds DNA as efficiently as the wild type; nevertheless, it is more resistant to thermal denaturation, suggesting that the resistance to degradation is likely linked to TDP-43 proteinopathies. Taken together all the data, we suggest a model showing that the two RRMs in each protomer of TDP-43 homodimer work together in RNA binding and thus the dimeric TDP-43 recognizes long clusters of UG-rich RNA to achieve high affinity and specificity.

TDP-43 is an RNA-binding protein with multiple function in the regulation of mRNA splicing and translation. However in diseased neuronal cells, TDP-43 forms aggregates and is linked to various neurodegenerative disorders, including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD). TDP-43 contains an N-terminal domain (NTD), two RNA binding domains (RRM1 and RRM2) and a C-terminal tail region rich in glycine residues. The pathogenic forms of TDP-43 are processed C-terminal fragments containing a truncated RRM2 and a glycine-rich tail. Although extensive studies have focused on this protein, it remains unclear how the dimeric full-length TDP-43 is folded and assembled and how the processed C-terminal fragments are misfolded and aggregated. Here we present the crystal structure of TDP-43 RRM1 domain in complex with a single-stranded DNA. This structure reveals the molecular basis for the recognition of TDP-43 to UG/TG-rich nucleic acids. Combining with SAXS data, we suggest that TDP-43 is assembled into a homodimer via its NTD and interacts with long clusters of UG-rich RNA by its two RRM domains. Moreover, we found that the ALS-linked mutant D169G binds DNA efficiently but is more resistant to thermal denaturation, suggesting that the resistance to degradation is likely linked to TDP-43 proteinopathies. Our data also suggest that the proteolytic cleavage of TDP-43 within RRM2 may remove the NTD dimerization domain and produce unassembled truncated RRM2 fragments with glycine-rich C-terminal tails that can further oligomerize into high-order inclusions.