Skip to main content
PMC home page
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1990 Aug;87(16):6034–6038. doi: 10.1073/pnas.87.16.6034

Molecular characterization of the GCN4-DNA complex.

M R Gartenberg 1, C Ampe 1, T A Steitz 1, D M Crothers 1
PMCID: PMC54466  PMID: 2201019

Abstract

We report studies of the DNA complex formed by GCN4, a transcriptional activator of eukaryotic amino acid biosynthetic operons. The DNA thermodynamic binding domain, defined by primer extension analysis, spans at least 18 base pairs, a site much larger than the 9-base-pair consensus defined by homology with naturally occurring binding sites. Chemical modification experiments reveal multiple sites of protein-DNA contact: methylation of any guanine N-7 or adenine N-3, ethylation of any phosphate oxygen, or elimination of any nucleoside within a region spanning nearly one and a half turns of the double helix reduces the binding affinity of the complex measurably. Nevertheless, the protein yields no detectable hydroxyl radical footprint, implying that the minor groove is reagent-accessible in the protein-DNA complex. These chemical modification patterns indicate that GCN4 does not utilize any of the DNA-recognition motifs of paradigm DNA-binding proteins. Assays to detect DNA bending induced by truncated or intact GCN4 indicate that protein conformation and not a protein-induced bend is responsible for the anomalous electrophoretic behavior of GCN4-DNA complexes.

Full text

PDF
6034

Images in this article

6037Image
on p.6037

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Arndt K., Fink G. R. GCN4 protein, a positive transcription factor in yeast, binds general control promoters at all 5' TGACTC 3' sequences. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1986 Nov;83(22):8516–8520. doi: 10.1073/pnas.83.22.8516. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Carey J. Gel retardation at low pH resolves trp repressor-DNA complexes for quantitative study. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1988 Feb;85(4):975–979. doi: 10.1073/pnas.85.4.975. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Clark L., Nicholson J., Hay R. T. Enhancer binding protein (EBP1) makes base and backbone contacts over one complete turn of the DNA double helix. J Mol Biol. 1989 Apr 20;206(4):615–626. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(89)90570-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Donahue T. F., Daves R. S., Lucchini G., Fink G. R. A short nucleotide sequence required for regulation of HIS4 by the general control system of yeast. Cell. 1983 Jan;32(1):89–98. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(83)90499-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Gartenberg M. R., Crothers D. M. DNA sequence determinants of CAP-induced bending and protein binding affinity. Nature. 1988 Jun 30;333(6176):824–829. doi: 10.1038/333824a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Gentz R., Rauscher F. J., 3rd, Abate C., Curran T. Parallel association of Fos and Jun leucine zippers juxtaposes DNA binding domains. Science. 1989 Mar 31;243(4899):1695–1699. doi: 10.1126/science.2494702. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Haran T. E., Crothers D. M. Cooperativity in A-tract structure and bending properties of composite TnAn blocks. Biochemistry. 1989 Apr 4;28(7):2763–2767. doi: 10.1021/bi00433a003. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Hendrickson W., Schleif R. A dimer of AraC protein contacts three adjacent major groove regions of the araI DNA site. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1985 May;82(10):3129–3133. doi: 10.1073/pnas.82.10.3129. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Hill D. E., Hope I. A., Macke J. P., Struhl K. Saturation mutagenesis of the yeast his3 regulatory site: requirements for transcriptional induction and for binding by GCN4 activator protein. Science. 1986 Oct 24;234(4775):451–457. doi: 10.1126/science.3532321. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Hinnebusch A. G. Evidence for translational regulation of the activator of general amino acid control in yeast. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1984 Oct;81(20):6442–6446. doi: 10.1073/pnas.81.20.6442. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Hinnebusch A. G., Lucchini G., Fink G. R. A synthetic HIS4 regulatory element confers general amino acid control on the cytochrome c gene (CYC1) of yeast. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1985 Jan;82(2):498–502. doi: 10.1073/pnas.82.2.498. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Hope I. A., Mahadevan S., Struhl K. Structural and functional characterization of the short acidic transcriptional activation region of yeast GCN4 protein. Nature. 1988 Jun 16;333(6174):635–640. doi: 10.1038/333635a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Hope I. A., Struhl K. Functional dissection of a eukaryotic transcriptional activator protein, GCN4 of yeast. Cell. 1986 Sep 12;46(6):885–894. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(86)90070-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Hope I. A., Struhl K. GCN4 protein, synthesized in vitro, binds HIS3 regulatory sequences: implications for general control of amino acid biosynthetic genes in yeast. Cell. 1985 Nov;43(1):177–188. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(85)90022-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Hope I. A., Struhl K. GCN4, a eukaryotic transcriptional activator protein, binds as a dimer to target DNA. EMBO J. 1987 Sep;6(9):2781–2784. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1987.tb02573.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Koo H. S., Drak J., Rice J. A., Crothers D. M. Determination of the extent of DNA bending by an adenine-thymine tract. Biochemistry. 1990 May 1;29(17):4227–4234. doi: 10.1021/bi00469a027. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Koo H. S., Wu H. M., Crothers D. M. DNA bending at adenine . thymine tracts. Nature. 1986 Apr 10;320(6062):501–506. doi: 10.1038/320501a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Kouzarides T., Ziff E. The role of the leucine zipper in the fos-jun interaction. Nature. 1988 Dec 15;336(6200):646–651. doi: 10.1038/336646a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Landschulz W. H., Johnson P. F., McKnight S. L. The DNA binding domain of the rat liver nuclear protein C/EBP is bipartite. Science. 1989 Mar 31;243(4899):1681–1688. doi: 10.1126/science.2494700. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Landschulz W. H., Johnson P. F., McKnight S. L. The leucine zipper: a hypothetical structure common to a new class of DNA binding proteins. Science. 1988 Jun 24;240(4860):1759–1764. doi: 10.1126/science.3289117. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Liu-Johnson H. N., Gartenberg M. R., Crothers D. M. The DNA binding domain and bending angle of E. coli CAP protein. Cell. 1986 Dec 26;47(6):995–1005. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(86)90814-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Lu A. L., Jack W. E., Modrich P. DNA determinants important in sequence recognition by Eco RI endonuclease. J Biol Chem. 1981 Dec 25;256(24):13200–13206. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. McClarin J. A., Frederick C. A., Wang B. C., Greene P., Boyer H. W., Grable J., Rosenberg J. M. Structure of the DNA-Eco RI endonuclease recognition complex at 3 A resolution. Science. 1986 Dec 19;234(4783):1526–1541. doi: 10.1126/science.3024321. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Nadeau J. G., Crothers D. M. Structural basis for DNA bending. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1989 Apr;86(8):2622–2626. doi: 10.1073/pnas.86.8.2622. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Nakabeppu Y., Nathans D. The basic region of Fos mediates specific DNA binding. EMBO J. 1989 Dec 1;8(12):3833–3841. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1989.tb08561.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. O'Shea E. K., Rutkowski R., Kim P. S. Evidence that the leucine zipper is a coiled coil. Science. 1989 Jan 27;243(4890):538–542. doi: 10.1126/science.2911757. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. Oliphant A. R., Brandl C. J., Struhl K. Defining the sequence specificity of DNA-binding proteins by selecting binding sites from random-sequence oligonucleotides: analysis of yeast GCN4 protein. Mol Cell Biol. 1989 Jul;9(7):2944–2949. doi: 10.1128/mcb.9.7.2944. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  28. Otwinowski Z., Schevitz R. W., Zhang R. G., Lawson C. L., Joachimiak A., Marmorstein R. Q., Luisi B. F., Sigler P. B. Crystal structure of trp repressor/operator complex at atomic resolution. Nature. 1988 Sep 22;335(6188):321–329. doi: 10.1038/335321a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  29. Schuermann M., Neuberg M., Hunter J. B., Jenuwein T., Ryseck R. P., Bravo R., Müller R. The leucine repeat motif in Fos protein mediates complex formation with Jun/AP-1 and is required for transformation. Cell. 1989 Feb 10;56(3):507–516. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(89)90253-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  30. Sellers J. W., Struhl K. Changing fos oncoprotein to a jun-independent DNA binding protein with GCN4 dimerization specificity by swapping "leucine zippers". Nature. 1989 Sep 7;341(6237):74–76. doi: 10.1038/341074a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  31. Siebenlist U., Gilbert W. Contacts between Escherichia coli RNA polymerase and an early promoter of phage T7. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1980 Jan;77(1):122–126. doi: 10.1073/pnas.77.1.122. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  32. Struhl K. The DNA-binding domains of the jun oncoprotein and the yeast GCN4 transcriptional activator protein are functionally homologous. Cell. 1987 Sep 11;50(6):841–846. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(87)90511-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  33. Thireos G., Penn M. D., Greer H. 5' untranslated sequences are required for the translational control of a yeast regulatory gene. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1984 Aug;81(16):5096–5100. doi: 10.1073/pnas.81.16.5096. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  34. Tullius T. D., Dombroski B. A. Hydroxyl radical "footprinting": high-resolution information about DNA-protein contacts and application to lambda repressor and Cro protein. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1986 Aug;83(15):5469–5473. doi: 10.1073/pnas.83.15.5469. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  35. Tullius T. D., Dombroski B. A. Iron(II) EDTA used to measure the helical twist along any DNA molecule. Science. 1985 Nov 8;230(4726):679–681. doi: 10.1126/science.2996145. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  36. Turner R., Tjian R. Leucine repeats and an adjacent DNA binding domain mediate the formation of functional cFos-cJun heterodimers. Science. 1989 Mar 31;243(4899):1689–1694. doi: 10.1126/science.2494701. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  37. Vinson C. R., Sigler P. B., McKnight S. L. Scissors-grip model for DNA recognition by a family of leucine zipper proteins. Science. 1989 Nov 17;246(4932):911–916. doi: 10.1126/science.2683088. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  38. Vogt P. K., Bos T. J., Doolittle R. F. Homology between the DNA-binding domain of the GCN4 regulatory protein of yeast and the carboxyl-terminal region of a protein coded for by the oncogene jun. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1987 May;84(10):3316–3319. doi: 10.1073/pnas.84.10.3316. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  39. Wu H. M., Crothers D. M. The locus of sequence-directed and protein-induced DNA bending. Nature. 1984 Apr 5;308(5959):509–513. doi: 10.1038/308509a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  40. Zinkel S. S., Crothers D. M. DNA bend direction by phase sensitive detection. Nature. 1987 Jul 9;328(6126):178–181. doi: 10.1038/328178a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America are provided here courtesy of National Academy of Sciences

RESOURCES