Publication Date:
1992-02-21
Description:
A class of regulators of eukaryotic gene expression contains a conserved amino acid sequence responsible for protein oligomerization and binding to DNA. This structure consists of an arginine- and lysine-rich basic region followed by a helix-loop-helix motif, which together mediate specific binding to DNA. Peptides were prepared that span this motif in the MyoD protein; in solution, they formed alpha-helical dimers and tetramers. They bound to DNA as dimers and their alpha-helical content increased on binding. Parallel and antiparallel four-helix models of the DNA-bound dimer were constructed. Peptides containing disulfide bonds were engineered to test the correctness of the two models. A disulfide that is compatible with the parallel model promotes specific interaction with DNA, whereas a disulfide compatible with the antiparallel model abolishes specific binding. Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) measurements of nitroxide-labeled peptides provided intersubunit distance measurements that also supported the parallel model.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Anthony-Cahill, S J -- Benfield, P A -- Fairman, R -- Wasserman, Z R -- Brenner, S L -- Stafford, W F 3rd -- Altenbach, C -- Hubbell, W L -- DeGrado, W F -- GM13731/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- GM14321/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 1992 Feb 21;255(5047):979-83.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Biotechnology Department, DuPont Merck Pharmaceutical Co., Wilmington, DE 19880-0328.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1312255" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Amino Acid Sequence
;
Animals
;
Binding Sites
;
Circular Dichroism
;
DNA-Binding Proteins/*chemistry
;
Disulfides
;
Electron Spin Resonance Spectroscopy
;
Enhancer Elements, Genetic
;
Gene Expression Regulation
;
Humans
;
Models, Molecular
;
Molecular Sequence Data
;
Protein Conformation
;
Regulatory Sequences, Nucleic Acid
;
Sequence Alignment
;
Transcription Factors/*chemistry
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
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