title: To Be Specific or Not: The Critical Relationship Between Hox And TALE Proteins.
abstract: Hox proteins are key regulatory transcription factors that act in different tissues of the embryo to provide specific spatial and temporal coordinates to each cell. These patterning functions often depend on the presence of the TALE-homeodomain class cofactors, which form cooperative DNA-binding complexes with all Hox proteins. How this family of cofactors contributes to the highly diverse and specific functions of Hox proteins in vivo remains an important unsolved question. We review here the most recent advances in understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying Hox-TALE function. In particular, we discuss the role of DNA shape, DNA-binding affinity, and protein-protein interaction flexibility in dictating Hox-TALE specificity. We propose several models to explain how these mechanisms are integrated with each other in the context of the many distinct functions that Hox and TALE factors carry out in vivo.
authors.affiliation: Institut de Génomique Fonctionnelle de Lyon, Centre National de Recherche Scientifique, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, France. Electronic address: samir.merabet@ens-lyon.fr.
authors.forename: Samir
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Merabet
authors.affiliation: Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY, USA. Electronic address: rsmann10@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Richard S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Mann
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence / Q000235:genetics; D000818:Animals; D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics*; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D011485:Protein Binding; D060066:Protein Interaction Maps / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins; D004247:DNA
keywords: DNA-binding specificity; Hox proteins; SELEX-seq; SPIMs; TALE cofactors; homeodomains