Structural Studies of Protein-Nucleic Acid Interaction: The Sources of Sequence-Specific Binding

by Thomas A. Steitz

• ISBN13: 9780521414890
• ISBN10: 052141489X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1993-09-24
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

The study of the interactions of proteins, whether they be enzymes, regulatory proteins or structural proteins, with nucleic acids is one of the most exciting areas of modern molecular biology. In this 1993 text, Professor Steitz reviews the wide-ranging research in structural studies of DNA-binding proteins and their complexes with DNA. The author clearly and concisely describes the uses of techniques in molecular genetics, DNA synthesis, protein crystallography and nuclear magnetic response. The book, by a now Nobel Prize-winning author, will continue to be enjoyed by anyone with an interest in this exciting area of research.

Table of Contents

Introduction and Overview	p. 1
Principles of Sequence-Specific Nucleic-Acid Recognition	p. 4
The problem that is set: what is being recognized	p. 5
Role of the major groove in DNA recognition	p. 5
Role of the nucleic acid bendability	p. 6
Role of water molecules in sequence recognition	p. 8
Role of the minor groove in DNA and RNA recognition	p. 9
DNA-Binding Structure Motifs	p. 10
Helix-turn-helix	p. 11
Zinc 'fingers'	p. 12
Helices of the dinucleotide fold	p. 14
Other motifs	p. 14
Similarities and Differences in RNA and DNA Recognition	p. 15
Sequence-Specific DNA-Binding Proteins	p. 16
Repressors and activators	p. 16
Lac operon regulation	p. 16
E. coli catabolite gene activator protein (CAP)	p. 16
E. coli lac repressor protein	p. 23
Structural studies of the bacterial phage repressors	p. 28
434 Repressor fragment complexed with DNA	p. 30
[lambda]cro	p. 36
[lambda]cI repressor fragment	p. 37
E. coli Trp repressor	p. 40
E. coli Met repressor	p. 44
Zinc-containing DNA-binding domains (zinc 'fingers') TFIIIA	p. 45
Restriction endonuclease - E. Coli EcoR I	p. 46
Site-specific recombination [gamma][delta] Resolvase	p. 51
Sequence-Independent DNA-Binding Proteins	p. 53
Klenow fragment of E. coli DNA polymerase I	p. 53
Bovine pancreatic DNase I	p. 55
E. coli Hu protein	p. 57
Sequence-Specific RNA-Binding Proteins	p. 59
E. coli glutaminyl-tRNA synthetase complexed with tRNA[superscript Gln]	p. 59
Conclusions and Prospects	p. 64
Acknowledgements	p. 65
References	p. 65
Index	p. 76
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.