Structure-specific nucleic acid recognition by L-motifs and their diverse roles in expression and regulation of the genome.
The high-mobility group (HMG) domain containing proteins regulate transcription, DNA replication and recombination. They adopt L-shaped folds and are structure-specific DNA binding motifs. Here, I define the L-motif super-family that consists of DNA-binding HMG-box proteins and the L-motif of the histone mRNA binding domain of stem-loop binding protein (SLBP). The SLBP L-motif and HMG-box domains adopt similar L-shaped folds with three α-helices and two or three small hydrophobic cores that stabilize the overall fold, but have very different and distinct modes of nucleic acid recognition. A comparison of the structure, dynamics, protein-protein and nucleic acid interactions, and regulation by PTMs of the SLBP and the HMG-box L-motifs reveals the versatile and diverse modes by which L-motifs utilize their surfaces for structure-specific recognition of nucleic acids to regulate gene expression.
BioSciences at Rice-Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Rice University, Houston, TX 77251-1892, USA. Electronic address: rthapar@rice.edu.
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Thapar
D020816:Amino Acid Motifs / Q000235:genetics; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D024742:HMG-Box Domains / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D055029:Inverted Repeat Sequences / Q000235:genetics; D009687:Nuclear Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D010766:Phosphorylation; D011487:Protein Conformation; D017510:Protein Folding; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D039221:mRNA Cleavage and Polyadenylation Factors / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*
D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins; C092663:SLBP protein, human; D039221:mRNA Cleavage and Polyadenylation Factors
DNA binding domain; HMG-box domain; Phosphorylation; Protein-nucleic acid interaction; RNA binding domain; Stem-loop binding protein (SLBP)