title: Structure in solution of the major cold-shock protein from Bacillus subtilis.
abstract: The cold-shock domain (CSD) is found in many eukaryotic transcriptional factors and is responsible for the specific binding to DNA of a cis-element called the Y-box. The same domain exists in the sequence of the Xenopus RNA-binding proteins FRG Y1 and FRG Y2 (refs 1, 3). The major cold-shock proteins of Escherichia coli (CS7.4) and B. subtilis (CspB) have sequences that are more than 40 per cent identical to the cold-shock domain. We present here the three-dimensional structure of CspB determined by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The 67-residue protein consists of an antiparallel five-stranded beta-barrel with strands connected by turns and loops. The structure resembles that of staphylococcal nuclease and the gene-5 single-stranded-DNA-binding protein. A three-stranded beta-sheet, which contains the conserved RNA-binding motif RNP1 as well as a motif similar to RNP2 in two neighbouring antiparallel beta-strands, has basic and aromatic residues at its surface which could serve as a binding site for single-stranded DNA. CspB binds to single-stranded DNA in gel retardation experiments.
authors.affiliation: Max-Planck-Institut für Biochemie, Martinsried bei München, Germany.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schnuchel
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wiltscheck
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Czisch
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Herrler
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Willimsky
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Graumann
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Marahiel
authors.forename: T A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Holak
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001412:Bacillus subtilis / Q000737:chemistry*; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000737:chemistry*; D001483:Base Sequence; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000737:chemistry*; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D017433:Protein Structure, Secondary; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins / Q000737:chemistry*; D012996:Solutions
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins; D012996:Solutions; C077188:cold-shock protein CspB, Bacteria