Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 17, 2026

CD Spectroscopy to Study DNA-Protein Interactions
Published on: February 10, 2022
Specificity of hydroxylmethyluracil-containing DNA for transcription factor 1: structural insights
H M Vu1, L B Pasternack, D R Kearns
1Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.
Abstract:
The genomic materials from some Bacillus subtilis bacteriophages are found to contain 5-(hydroxymethyl)-2'-deoxyuridine in place of thymine. Phage-encoded proteins such as transcription factor 1 specifically and preferentially bind to the minor grooves of these hmU-containing DNA but not to thymine-containing DNA. Data from electrophoretic mobility shift assays suggest that the inherent, localized flexibility of hmU-DNA, which is sequence-specific, is responsible for its discriminative binding. We discuss here, from the NMR-derived structural point of view, how differential DNA flexibility can contribute to specific binding of TF1 to hmU-DNA.
More Related Videos
12:19Tools to Study the Role of Architectural Protein HMGB1 in the Processing of Helix Distorting, Site-specific DNA Interstrand Crosslinks
Published on: November 10, 2016
06:38High Sensitivity Measurement of Transcription Factor-DNA Binding Affinities by Competitive Titration Using Fluorescence Microscopy
Published on: February 7, 2019
Related Concept Videos
Eukaryotic Transcription Activators
The binding domains are capable of recognizing and interacting with regulatory sequences on the DNA. These domains are...
General Transcription Factors
Transcription Factors
Cooperative Binding of Transcription Regulators
RNA Polymerase II Accessory Proteins
Transcription Elongation Factors
The transcription elongation is regulated via pausing of RNA polymerase on several occasions during transcription. In bacteria, these halts are necessary because the transcription of DNA into mRNA is coupled to the translation of that mRNA into a...