西亚试剂优势供应上万种化学试剂产品，欢迎各位新老客户咨询、选购！
中国
联系我们
联系方式：400-990-3999 / 邮箱：sales@xiyashiji.com
西亚试剂 —— 品质可靠，值得信赖
The role of DNA shape in protein–DNA recognition
Remo Rohs1,3, Sean M. West1,3, Alona Sosinsky1,4, Peng Liu1, Richard S. Mann2 & Barry Honig1
1 Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Center for Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Columbia University, 1130 Saint Nicholas Avenue, New York, New York 10032, USA
2 Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Columbia University, 701 West 168th Street, HHSC 1104, New York, New York 10032, USA
3 These authors contributed equally to this work.
4 Present address: Institute of Structural and Molecular Biology, School of Crystallography, Birkbeck College, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HX, UK.
5 Correspondence to: Richard S. Mann2Barry Honig1 Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to B.H. or R.S.M.
The recognition of specific DNA sequences by proteins is thought to depend on two types of mechanism: one that involves the formation of hydrogen bonds with specific bases, primarily in the major groove, and one involving sequence-dependent deformations of the DNA helix. By comprehensively analysing the three-dimensional structures of protein–DNA complexes, here we show that the binding of arginine residues to narrow minor grooves is a widely used mode for protein–DNA recognition. This readout mechanism exploits the phenomenon that narrow minor grooves strongly enhance the negative electrostatic potential of the DNA. The nucleosome core particle offers a prominent example of this effect. Minor-groove narrowing is often associated with the presence of A-tracts, AT-rich sequences that exclude the flexible TpA step. These findings indicate that the ability to detect local variations in DNA shape and electrostatic potential is a general mechanism that enables proteins to use information in the minor groove, which otherwise offers few opportunities for the formation of base-specific hydrogen bonds, to achieve DNA-binding specificity.
