title: B-ZIP proteins encoded by the Drosophila genome: evaluation of potential dimerization partners.
abstract: The basic region-leucine zipper (B-ZIP) (bZIP) protein motif dimerizes to bind specific DNA sequences. We have identified 27 B-ZIP proteins in the recently sequenced Drosophila melanogaster genome. The dimerization specificity of these 27 B-ZIP proteins was evaluated using two structural criteria: (1) the presence of attractive or repulsive interhelical g<-->e' electrostatic interactions and (2) the presence of polar or charged amino acids in the 'a' and 'd' positions of the hydrophobic interface. None of the B-ZIP proteins contain only aliphatic amino acids in the'a' and 'd' position. Only six of the Drosophila B-ZIP proteins contain a "canonical" hydrophobic interface like the yeast GCN4, and the mammalian JUN, ATF2, CREB, C/EBP, and PAR leucine zippers, characterized by asparagine in the second 'a' position. Twelve leucine zippers contain polar amino acids in the first, third, and fourth 'a' positions. Circular dichroism spectroscopy, used to monitor thermal denaturations of a heterodimerizing leucine zipper system containing either valine (V) or asparagine (N) in the 'a' position, indicates that the V-N interaction is 2.3 kcal/mole less stable than an N-N interaction and 5.3 kcal/mole less stable than a V-V interaction. Thus, we propose that the presence of polar amino acids in novel positions of the 'a' position of Drosophila B-ZIP proteins has led to leucine zippers that homodimerize rather than heterodimerize.
authors.affiliation: Computational Biology Branch, National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20814, USA.
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fassler
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Landsman
authors.forename: Asha
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Acharya
authors.forename: Jonathan R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Moll
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bonovich
authors.forename: Charles
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Vinson
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000596:Amino Acids / Q000737:chemistry; D000818:Animals; D001216:Asparagine / Q000378:metabolism; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D030562:Databases, Protein; D019281:Dimerization; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000235:genetics*; D017344:Genes, Insect; D016678:Genome; D006801:Humans; D016350:Leucine Zippers / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D010802:Phylogeny; D025941:Protein Interaction Mapping / Q000379:methods; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary / Q000235:genetics; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins; D016415:Sequence Alignment / Q000379:methods; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013499:Surface Properties; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics*; D014633:Valine / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: C105242:ALYREF protein, human; D000596:Amino Acids; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins; D014157:Transcription Factors; D001216:Asparagine; D014633:Valine