DNA-binding Motif (DNA-bind + motif)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Light-induced gene expression of fructose 1,6-bisphosphate aldolase during heterotrophic growth in a cyanobacterium, Synechocystis sp.

FEBS JOURNAL, Issue 1 2009
PCC 680
Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 exhibits light-activated heterotrophic growth (LAHG) under dark conditions with glucose as a carbon source. The light activation is remarkable at a late period of photoautotrophic preculture, such as the late-linear and stationary growth phases. To understand the physiological effects of light irradiation and glucose under LAHG conditions, their effects on the expression of soluble proteins were analyzed by means of 2D-PAGE. Various soluble proteins, which were minimal under photoautotrophic preculture conditions, were observed clearly under LAHG conditions, suggesting that proteins were synthesized actively under these conditions. Fructose 1,6-bisphosphate aldolase, one of the glycolytic enzymes, was found to be induced under LAHG conditions on 2D-PAGE. The activity of fructose 1,6-bisphosphate aldolase, which had decreased during photoautotrophic preculture, also increased under LAHG conditions, similar to the mRNA level of the encoding gene, fbaA. In addition, we found that a deletion mutant of sll1330, a putative gene containing a helix-turn-helix DNA-binding motif, could not grow under LAHG conditions, whereas it could grow photoautotrophically. The increases in the protein level of FbaA and fbaA gene expression observed in wild-type cells under LAHG conditions were greatly inhibited in the deletion mutant. These results suggest that the regulation of fbaA gene expression by way of sll1330 is one of the important processes in Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 under light pulse LAHG conditions. [source]


The CCAAT binding factor can mediate interactions between CONSTANS-like proteins and DNA

THE PLANT JOURNAL, Issue 3 2006
Orna Ben-Naim
Summary CONSTANS-Like (COL) proteins are plant-specific nuclear regulators of gene expression but do not contain a known DNA-binding motif. We tested whether a common DNA-binding protein can deliver these proteins to specific cis-acting elements. We screened for proteins that interact with two members of a subgroup of COL proteins. These COL proteins were Tomato COL1 (TCOL1), which does not seem to be involved in the control of flowering time, and the Arabidopsis thaliana CONSTANS (AtCO) protein which mediates photoperiodic induction of flowering. We show that the C-terminal plant-specific CCT (CO, CO-like, TIMING OF CAB EXPRESSION 1) domain of both proteins binds the trimeric CCAAT binding factor (CBF) via its HAP5/NF-YC component. Chromatin immunoprecipitation demonstrated that TCOL is recruited to the CCAAT motifs of the yeast CYC1 and HEM1 promoters by HAP5. In Arabidopsis, each of the three CBF components is encoded by several different genes that are highly transcribed. Under warm long days, high levels of expression of a tomato HAP5 (THAP5a) gene can reduce the flowering time of Arabidopsis. A mutation in the CCT domain of TCOL1 disrupts the interaction with THAP5 and the analogous mutation in AtCO impairs its function and delays flowering. CBFs are therefore likely to recruit COL proteins to their DNA target motifs in planta. [source]


Expression, purification, crystallization and preliminary X-ray analysis of the DNA-binding domain of a Chlamydia trachomatis OmpR/PhoB-subfamily response regulator homolog, ChxR

ACTA CRYSTALLOGRAPHICA SECTION F (ELECTRONIC), Issue 8 2009
John M. Hickey
Two-component signal transduction systems in bacteria are a primary mechanism for responding to environmental stimuli and adjusting gene expression accordingly. Generally in these systems a sensor kinase phosphorylates a response regulator that regulates transcription. Response regulators contain two domains: a receiver domain and an effector domain. The receiver domain is typically phosphorylated and as a result facilitates the DNA-binding and transcriptional activity of the effector domain. The OmpR/PhoB subfamily is the largest of the response-regulator subfamilies and is primarily defined by the winged helix,turn,helix DNA-binding motif within the effector domain. The overall structure of effector domains is highly conserved and contains three defined elements that are critical for transcriptional regulation: a DNA major-groove binding helix, a DNA minor-groove binding wing and a transcriptional activation loop. These functional elements are often diverse in sequence and conformation and reflect the functional differences observed between individual subfamily members. ChxR from Chlamydia trachomatis is an atypical OmpR/PhoB response regulator homolog that has transcriptional activity in the absence of phosphorylation. To facilitate the precise identification of the functional elements of the ChxR effector domain, this protein was cloned, expressed, purified and crystallized. Crystals were obtained from two separate mother liquors, producing two morphologically distinct crystals. The space group of both crystals was P43212 (or its enantiomorph P41212) with isomorphous unit-cell parameters; the crystals diffracted to 2.2,2.5,Å resolution. [source]


Seed-based systematic discovery of specific transcription factor target genes

FEBS JOURNAL, Issue 12 2008
Ralf Mrowka
Reliable prediction of specific transcription factor target genes is a major challenge in systems biology and functional genomics. Current sequence-based methods yield many false predictions, due to the short and degenerated DNA-binding motifs. Here, we describe a new systematic genome-wide approach, the seed-distribution-distance method, that searches large-scale genome-wide expression data for genes that are similarly expressed as known targets. This method is used to identify genes that are likely targets, allowing sequence-based methods to focus on a subset of genes, giving rise to fewer false-positive predictions. We show by cross-validation that this method is robust in recovering specific target genes. Furthermore, this method identifies genes with typical functions and binding motifs of the seed. The method is illustrated by predicting novel targets of the transcription factor nuclear factor kappaB (NF-,B). Among the new targets is optineurin, which plays a key role in the pathogenesis of acquired blindness caused by adult-onset primary open-angle glaucoma. We show experimentally that the optineurin gene and other predicted genes are targets of NF-,B. Thus, our data provide a missing link in the signalling of NF-,B and the damping function of optineurin in signalling feedback of NF-,B. We present a robust and reliable method to enhance the genome-wide prediction of specific transcription factor target genes that exploits the vast amount of expression information available in public databases today. [source]


Elucidation of the role of Grr1p in glucose sensing by Saccharomyces cerevisiae through genome-wide transcription analysis

FEMS YEAST RESEARCH, Issue 3 2004
Steen L. Westergaard
Abstract The role of Grr1p in glucose sensing in Saccharomyces cerevisiae was elucidated through genome-wide transcription analysis. From triplicate analysis of a strain with deletion of the GRR1 -gene from the genome and an isogenic reference strain, 68 genes were identified to have significantly altered expression using a Student's t -test with Bonferroni correction. These 68 genes were widely distributed across different parts of the cellular metabolism and GRR1 -deletion is therefore concluded to result in polytrophic effects, indicating multiple roles for Grr1p. Using a less conservative statistical test, namely the SAM test, 232 genes were identified as having significantly altered expression, and also these genes were widely distributed across different parts of the cellular metabolism. Promoter analyses on a genome-wide scale and on the genes with significant changes revealed an over-representation of DNA-binding motifs for the transcriptional regulators Mig1p and Rgt1p in the promoter region of the significantly altered genes, indicating that Grr1p plays an important role in the regulatory pathways that ultimately lead to transcriptional regulation by each of the components Mig1p and Rgt1p. [source]


A helix-turn motif in the C-terminal domain of histone H1

PROTEIN SCIENCE, Issue 4 2000
Roger Vila
Abstract The structural study of peptides belonging to the terminal domains of histone H1 can be considered as a step toward the understanding of the function of H1 in chromatin. The conformational properties of the peptide Ac-EPKRSVAFKKT KKEVKKVATPKK (CH-1), which belongs to the C-terminal domain of histone Hl° (residues 99,121) and is adjacent to the central globular domain of the protein, were examined by means of 1H-NMR and circular dichroism. In aqueous solution, CH-1 behaved as a mainly unstructured peptide, although turn-like conformations in rapid equilibrium with the unfolded state could be present. Addition of trifluoroethanol resulted in a substantial increase of the helical content. The helical limits, as indicated by (i, i + 3) nuclear Overhauser effect (NOE) cross correlations and significant up-field conformational shifts of the C, protons, span from Pro100 to Val 116, with Glu99 and Ala117 as N- and C-caps. A structure calculation performed on the basis of distance constraints derived from NOE cross peaks in 90% trifluoroethanol confirmed the helical structure of this region. The helical region has a marked amphipathic character, due to the location of all positively charged residues on one face of the helix and all the hydrophobic residues on the opposite face. The peptide has a TPKK motif at the C-terminus, following the ,-helical region. The observed NOE connectivities suggest that the TPKK sequence adopts a type (I) ,-turn conformation, a ,-turn conformation or a combination of both, in fast equilibrium with unfolded states. Sequences of the kind (S/T)P(K/R)(K/R) have been proposed as DNA binding motifs. The CH-1 peptide, thus, combines a positively charged amphipathic helix and a turn as potential DNA-binding motifs. [source]