A novel form of the DNA double helix imposed on the TATA-box by the TATA-binding protein.
The structure of the TATA-box bound to the TATA-binding protein revealed a new and unexpected deformation of the double helix leading to a sharp change in the DNA trajectory. Here we show that the deformation imposed upon the TATA-box represents a novel form of the double helix--named TA-DNA--which differs from A-DNA by a single conformational parameter, namely the rotation around the glycosidic bond. This rotation causes a 50 degrees inclination of the base pairs in the TATA-box which in turn results in abrupt change in the trajectory of the flanking B-DNA segments. The observation that the TATA sequence can assume an A-DNA conformation coupled to the simplicity of the transition from A-DNA to TA-DNA may be the reason for the presence of the TATA sequence in a wide range of promoters.
Guzikevich-Guerstein
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G
Department of Structural Biology, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel.
Shakked
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Z
D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D018360:Crystallography, X-Ray; D004247:DNA / Q000378:metabolism*; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D016385:TATA Box; D035181:TATA-Box Binding Protein; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000378:metabolism*
D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D035181:TATA-Box Binding Protein; D014157:Transcription Factors; D004247:DNA