DNA footprinting and biophysical characterization of the controller protein C.AhdI suggests the basis of a genetic switch
Autor: | Simon Streeter, Geoff Kneale, I. Papapanagiotou, John McGeehan |
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Rok vydání: | 2004 |
Předmět: |
Molecular Sequence Data
DNA Footprinting DNA footprinting Helix-turn-helix Biology chemistry.chemical_compound Gene Order Operon Genetics DNA Restriction-Modification Enzymes Amino Acid Sequence Binding site Protein Dimerization Binding Sites Base Sequence Articles DNA Surface Plasmon Resonance Molecular biology Footprinting DNA-Binding Proteins Dissociation constant Gene Expression Regulation chemistry Biophysics Deoxyribonuclease I Dimerization Transcription Factors |
Zdroj: | Nucleic Acids Research. 32:6445-6453 |
ISSN: | 1362-4962 |
DOI: | 10.1093/nar/gkh975 |
Popis: | We have cloned and expressed the ahdIC gene of the AhdI restriction-modification system and have purified the resulting controller (C) protein to homogeneity. The protein sequence shows a HTH motif typical of that found in many transcriptional regulators. C.AhdI is found to form a homodimer of 16.7 kDa; sedimentation equilibrium experiments show that the dimer dissociates into monomers at low concentration, with a dissociation constant of 2.5 microM. DNase I and Exo III footprinting were used to determine the C.AhdI DNA-binding site, which is found approximately 30 bp upstream of the ahdIC operon. The intact homodimer binds cooperatively to a 35 bp fragment of DNA containing the C-protein binding site with a dissociation constant of 5-6 nM, as judged both by gel retardation analysis and by surface plasmon resonance, although in practice the affinity for DNA is dominated by protein dimerization as DNA binding by the monomer is negligible. The location of the C-operator upstream of both ahdIC and ahdIR suggests that C.AhdI may act as a positive regulator of the expression of both genes, and could act as a molecular switch that is critically dependent on the K(d) for the monomer-dimer equilibrium. Moreover, the structure and location of the C.AhdI binding site with respect to the putative -35 box preceding the C-gene suggests a possible mechanism for autoregulation of C.AhdI expression. |
Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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