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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2012 Feb 23.
Published in final edited form as: Annu Rev Biochem. 2010;79:233–269. doi: 10.1146/annurev-biochem-060408-091030

Figure 4. Base recognition in the major and minor groove.

Figure 4

Sequence specific patterns on the edges of the bases in the major groove underlie the ability for proteins to readout base pairs through hydrogen bonds and hydrophobic contacts (hydrogen bond acceptors in red, donors in blue, thymine methyl group in yellow, and base carbon hydrogens in white). In contrast, A:T versus T:A and C:G versus G:C are indistinguishable in the minor groove. The three panels show successive rotations of 90° around the helix axis. The dodecamer d(GACT)3 was built based on fiber diffraction data with 3DNA [91].