1. Forces driving the binding of homeodomains to DNA
- Author
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Dragon, Anatoly I., Zhenlan Li, Makeyeva, Elena N., Milgotina, Ekaterina I., Yingyun Liu, Privalov, Peter L., and Crane-Robinson, Colyn
- Subjects
DNA-ligand interactions -- Analysis ,Deformations (Mechanics) -- Analysis ,Polypeptides -- Structure ,Polypeptides -- Chemical properties ,Biological sciences ,Chemistry - Abstract
The stability and DNA binding-domains (DBD) of four representatives of this family, MATalpha2, engrailed, Antennapedia and NK-2, and truncated forms of the last two lacking their N-terminal arms are analyzed using a combination of optical and microcalorimetric methods. The results show that while DBDs have basic extensions to their folded domains, these can also use two different strategies to increase the binding affinity and in the case of the homeodomains, the extensions also make a contribution to specificity, unlike those of the HMG box-containing proteins.
- Published
- 2006