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. 2005 Oct 10;391(Pt 2):203–213. doi: 10.1042/BJ20050453

Figure 7. Representation of the proposed mechanism for H-NS responding to a temperature rise from 25 to 37 °C.

Figure 7

In the left-hand panel (25 °C) full-length H-NS is able to bind to strands of DNA in a co-operative manner based on the high-order oligomeric structure. The right-hand panel (37 °C) shows the effect of the conformational change on one of the H-NS dimers due to increased temperature. The dimer is no longer able to interact with the high-order protein oligomer and therefore no longer binds to DNA in a co-operative manner. The resulting loss in affinity affects the DNA topology and makes it more accessible to RNA polymerase, leading to gene transcription.