Figure 1.

Protein-DNA binding is not limited to sequence specific (A) and nonspecific (B). It can also be characterized by an intermediate regime of nonconsensus binding, which is nonspecific for random DNA sequences (C) but has an increased binding strength for DNA regions enriched with certain repeated nucleotide patterns (D). The DNA lattice units shown in different colors may correspond to individual basepairs or larger regions. Different geometric shapes of such units used on the figure do not imply that such shapes are actually visible in the DNA structure—these may also correspond to alterations of the DNA double helix stability or other slight perturbations of the energy landscape. To see this figure in color, go online.