title: Preferential binding of E.coli histone-like protein HU alpha to negatively supercoiled DNA.
abstract: Binding specificity of histone-like HU alpha protein to supercoiled DNA was examined by gel retardation assay and chemical probing with OsO4. The latter method was proved to be a unique means for detecting torsional tension restrained in supercoiled plasmid in the presence of HU alpha. It was shown that HU alpha protein has preferential affinity to negatively supercoiled DNA relative to relaxed, nicked and linearized DNAs. There were two modes for binding of HU alpha to the supercoiled DNA: one was the binding associated with topological changes in DNA and the other was relatively strong binding, probably specific to certain particular structures of DNA. It was suggested that HU in vivo interacts preferentially with the regions deformed under torsional stress or with the metabolically active regions along DNA.
authors.affiliation: Tokyo College of Pharmacy, Japan.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shindo
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Furubayashi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shimizu
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Miyake
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Imamoto
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D004278:DNA, Superhelical / Q000378:metabolism*; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D004587:Electrophoresis, Agar Gel; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000378:metabolism; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D009993:Osmium Tetroxide
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D004278:DNA, Superhelical; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; C040330:histone-like protein HU, bacteria; D009993:Osmium Tetroxide