Fig. 2

A schematic depiction of protein domain structure and states merlin. A Merlin is a multidomain protein and consists of three parts. The first part is at the N-terminus, which is highly conserved and is called FERM or N-terminal ERM association domain. The FERM itself has three subdomains F1, F2, and F3. The second part is the α- helical domain, which consists of three α- helices (α1H, α2H, and α3H). The third part is a short, mainly helical C- terminus domain (CTD) or C-terminal ERM association domain. B Merlin’s head-to-tail folding between FERM and CTD domains in monomer structure renders the protein in closed inactive conformation upon phosphorylation of Ser 518