title: A conserved zinc finger motif in the coat protein of Tomato leaf curl Bangalore virus is responsible for binding to ssDNA.
abstract: Tomato leaf curl Bangalore virus (ToLCBV-[Ban5]) from south India belongs to the genus Begomovirus of the family Geminiviridae. So far, only the DNA A component has been identified in this virus. In this paper we report the overexpression of ToLCBV-[Ban5] coat protein (CP) in E. coli and its characterization. The purified recombinant CP bound preferentially to ssDNA in a sequence non-specific manner. Deletion of 50 amino acids from the N-terminus, including a putative N-terminal alpha helix, did not result in the loss of binding to DNA. A search for motifs responsible for DNA binding indicated a conserved putative zinc finger motif in the CPs (corresponding to residues 65-85 in ToLCBV-[Ban 5] CP) of begomoviruses. The role of this motif in DNA binding was evaluated through site-directed mutagenesis of the conserved cysteines (C68, C72) and histidines (H81, H85) present within this motif to alanine. The results indicate that the zinc finger motif is indeed involved in binding to zinc and DNA.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560-012, India.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kirthi
authors.forename: H S
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Savithri
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D036022:Capsid Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D004277:DNA, Single-Stranded / Q000378:metabolism*; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics; D017791:Geminiviridae / Q000737:chemistry*; D018551:Solanum lycopersicum / Q000821:virology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D036022:Capsid Proteins; D004277:DNA, Single-Stranded; D011994:Recombinant Proteins