CiteULike is a free online bibliography manager. Register and you can start organising your references online.

Charge neutralization and DNA bending by the Escherichia coli catabolite activator protein Export

Nucl. Acids Res., Vol. 30, No. 9. (1 May 2002), pp. 1879-1885.

Citation Format

[Posts]

View FullText article


ruvido's tags for this article

cap cap_dna dna protein

X Reviews [Write a review of this article]

X Find related articles from these CiteULike users

X Find related articles with these CiteULike tags

X Posting History

X Abstract

We are interested in the role of asymmetric phosphate neutralization in DNA bending induced by proteins. We describe an experimental estimate of the actual electrostatic contribution of asymmetric phosphate neutralization to the bending of DNA by the Escherichia coli catabolite activator protein (CAP), a prototypical DNA-bending protein. Following assignment of putative electrostatic interactions between CAP and DNA phosphates based on X-ray crystal structures, appropriate phosphates in the CAP half-site DNA were chemically neutralized by methylphosphonate substitution. DNA shape was then evaluated using a semi-synthetic DNA electrophoretic phasing assay. Our results confirm that the unmodified CAP DNA half-site sequence is intrinsically curved by 26degrees in the direction enhanced in the complex with protein. In the absence of protein, neutralization of five appropriate phosphates increases DNA curvature to 32degrees ([~]23% increase), in the predicted direction. Shifting the placement of the neutralized phosphates changes the DNA shape, suggesting that sequence-directed DNA curvature can be modified by the asymmetry of phosphate neutralization. We suggest that asymmetric phosphate neutralization contributes favorably to DNA bending by CAP, but cannot account for the full DNA deformation. 10.1093/nar/30.9.1879


X BibTeX record

X RIS record


Privacy Statement | Terms & Conditions
CiteULike organises scholarly (or academic) papers or literature and provides bibliographic (which means it makes bibliographies) for universities and higher education establishments. It helps undergraduates and postgraduates. People studying for PhDs or in postdoctoral (postdoc) positions. The service is similar in scope to EndNote or RefWorks or any other reference manager like BibTeX, but it is a social bookmarking service for scientists and humanities researchers.