Two SH3 domain-containing cytosolic components of the NADPH oxidase, p47ph0" and p40phox, are shown by analyses of their sequences to contain single copies of a novel class of domain, the PX (phox) domain. Homologous domains are demonstrated to be present in the Cpk class of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase, S. cerevisiae Bemlp, and S. pombe Scd2, and a large family of human sorting nexin 1 (SNXI) homologues. The majority of these domains contains a polyproline motif, typical of SH3 domain-binding proteins. Two further findings are reported. A third NADPH oxidase subunit, p67pho", is shown to contain four tetratricopeptide repeats (TPRs) within its N-terminal RacIGTPbinding region, and a 28 residue motif in p40phox is demonstrated to be present in protein kinase C isoforms ~l h and 5; and in three ZZ domain-containing proteins.Keywords: homology; signal transduction; chronic granulomatous disease; tetratrico peptide repeats; phospholipase D Patients with chronic granulomatous diseases (CCDs) are severely predisposed to infection by fungi and bacteria due to deficiencies of the component subunits of NADPH oxidase. Dysfunction of the oxidase reduces superoxide generation, thereby compromising a major non-specific host defense mechanism of phagocytes (reviewed in Segal, 1989). The most common cause of CCDs is an X-linked inheritance, resulting in the deficiency of the large /3 subunit of flavocytochrome b (gp91Ph0"). In approximately 3 U O % of cases, however, autosomally inherited deficiencies of other subunits with masses 47k and 67k (p47phox, and p67pho") lead to CCD (Clark et al., 1989;Let0 et al., 1990). Stimulation of neutrophils or other phagocytes results in these two cytosolic proteins, along with the small GTPases Racl or Rac2, translocating to the plasma membrane; subsequently, they form the functional NADPH oxidase, in complex with the transmembrane and heterodimeric gp9 Iphox-p22phox flavocytochrome b5S8. This is the minimum complex required to generate the microbicidal superoxide anion. An additional cytosolic factor, p40pho", is known also to associate with the NADPH oxidase complex (Wientjes et al., 1993), although its regulatory roles remain uncertain.P40PhoX, p47phox, and p67phoX each contain Src homology 3 (SH3) domains, which mediate multiple associations with proline-rich targets within the NADPH oxidase complex (Fuchs et al., 1995;de Mendez et al., 1996). These domains are also present in a diverse range of kinases, phosphatases, phospholipases, and cytoskeletal proteins, and bind left-handed polyproline type I1 helices (reviewed in Pawson, 1995). The presence of other domain types in p47ph0" and p67phox, however, has not previously been noted. Here I report the identification of a novel domain family that includes p40phox, p47phox, phosphatidylinositol (PtdIns) 3-kinases, homologues of a sorting nexin (SNXI), and several yeast proteins, including the SH3-containing protein, Bemlp. 1 also record the presence of tetratricopeptide repeats (TPRs) in p67pho", and note that a 28 residue (oct...