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Updated: Aug 14, 2026

CD Spectroscopy to Study DNA-Protein Interactions
Published on: February 10, 2022
Structure and chromosomal DNA binding of the SWIRM domain
Chengmin Qian1, Qiang Zhang, SiDe Li
1Structural Biology Program, Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York University, One Gustave L. Levy Place, New York, New York 10029, USA.
Abstract:
The evolutionarily conserved Swi3p, Rsc8p and Moira (SWIRM) domain is found in many chromosomal proteins involved in chromatin modifications or remodeling. Here we report the three-dimensional solution structure of the SWIRM domain from the human transcriptional adaptor ADA2alpha. The structure reveals a five-helix bundle consisting of two helix-turn-helix motifs connected by a central long helix, reminiscent of the histone fold. Using structural and biochemical analyses, we showed that the SWIRM domains of human ADA2alpha and SMARC2 bind to double-stranded and nucleosomal DNA, and we identified amino acid residues required for this function. We demonstrated that the ADA2alpha SWIRM domain is colocalized with lysine-acetylated histone H3 in the cell nucleus and that it potentiates the ACF remodeling activity by enhancing accessibility of nucleosomal linker DNA bound to histone H1. These data suggest a functional role of the SWIRM domain in chromatin remodeling.
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