What is life? The paradigm of DNA and protein cooperation at high local concentrations.
Many chemical reactions need high concentrations of the molecules involved in order to work efficiently. It is usually impossible for the cell to achieve the necessary high concentrations of all relevant molecules in unconfined solutions but this becomes possible if the high concentration is restricted around a relevant molecule. High local concentrations of interacting molecules have been observed many times in many different biological systems. The examples of Lac and Lambda repressors of Escherichia coli are presented and discussed here as useful paradigms of mechanisms for achieving high local concentrations of interacting protein protomers.
Institute of Genetics, University of Cologne, Zülpicher Str. 47, D 50674 Cologne, Germany. muellerhill@uni-koeln.de
Benno
B
Müller-Hill
D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D056968:Lac Repressors; D019369:Life; D012097:Repressor Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D054334:Viral Regulatory and Accessory Proteins
D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; D056968:Lac Repressors; C539064:LacI protein, E coli; D012097:Repressor Proteins; D014764:Viral Proteins; D054334:Viral Regulatory and Accessory Proteins; C016649:phage repressor proteins