Suzuki M, Yagi N
MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, UK.
Nucleic Acids Res. 1995 Jun 25;23(12):2083-91. doi: 10.1093/nar/23.12.2083.
Superstructure-formation of DNA plays an important role in transcription regulation as well as in chromatin formation. To understand the stereochemical basis of DNA bending by proteins we analysed the structural characteristics of dinucleotide steps which occur at the site where DNA is bent upon binding a transcription factor. When DNA is considerably bent in a crystal structure the bending is not spread smoothly over a length, but the DNA is kinked at a pair of crucial steps which are highly rolled and untwisted. These rolled steps are spaced 6-10 bp apart and are predominantly occupied by pyrimidine-purine sequences. In association with another dinucleotide step at the centre, which combines 6 bp-spaced rolled steps towards the same side of the DNA, these produce two essentially different types of DNA bending.
DNA的超结构形成在转录调控以及染色质形成中起着重要作用。为了理解蛋白质使DNA弯曲的立体化学基础,我们分析了二核苷酸步的结构特征,这些二核苷酸步出现在DNA结合转录因子时发生弯曲的位点。当DNA在晶体结构中大幅弯曲时,弯曲并非在一段长度上平滑扩展,而是在一对高度卷曲且解旋的关键步处发生扭结。这些卷曲步相隔6 - 10个碱基对,且主要由嘧啶 - 嘌呤序列占据。与中心的另一个二核苷酸步相关联,该二核苷酸步将相隔6个碱基对的卷曲步组合到DNA的同一侧,这些产生了两种本质上不同类型的DNA弯曲。