title: The crystal structure of the herpes simplex virus 1 ssDNA-binding protein suggests the structural basis for flexible, cooperative single-stranded DNA binding.
abstract: All organisms including animal viruses use specific proteins to bind single-stranded DNA rapidly in a non-sequence-specific, flexible, and cooperative manner during the DNA replication process. The crystal structure of a 60-residue C-terminal deletion construct of ICP8, the major single-stranded DNA-binding protein from herpes simplex virus-1, was determined at 3.0 A resolution. The structure reveals a novel fold, consisting of a large N-terminal domain (residues 9-1038) and a small C-terminal domain (residues 1049-1129). On the basis of the structure and the nearest neighbor interactions in the crystal, we have presented a model describing the site of single-stranded DNA binding and explaining the basis for cooperative binding. This model agrees with the beaded morphology observed in electron micrographs.
authors.affiliation: European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Hamburg Outstation, c/o DESY, Notkestrasse 85, D-22603 Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Marina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mapelli
authors.forename: Santosh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Panjikar
authors.forename: Paul A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Tucker
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D018360:Crystallography, X-Ray; D004277:DNA, Single-Stranded / Q000737:chemistry*; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D008957:Models, Genetic; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011485:Protein Binding; D011487:Protein Conformation; D017433:Protein Structure, Secondary; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D012645:Selenomethionine / Q000737:chemistry; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013045:Species Specificity; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D004277:DNA, Single-Stranded; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; C045462:ICP8 protein, Simplexvirus; D014764:Viral Proteins; D012645:Selenomethionine