Analysis of DNA-protein interactions in complexes of transcription factor NF-kappaB with DNA

We have applied bioinformatic analysis of X-ray 3D structures of complexes of transcription factor NF-kappaB with DNAs. We determined the number of possible Van der Waals contacts and hydrogen bonds between amino acid residues and nucleotides. Conservative contacts in the NF-kappaB dimer-DNA complex composed of p50 and/or p65 NF-kappaB subunit and DNA sequences like 5 -GGGAMWTTCC-3 were revealed. Based on these results, we propose a novel scheme for interactions between NF-kappaB p50 homodimer and the kappaB region of the immunoglobulin light chain gene enhancer (Ig-kappaB). We applied a chemical cross-linking technique to study the proximity of some Lys and Cys residues of NF-kappaB p50 subunit with certain reactive nucleotides into its recognition site. In all cases, the experimentally determined protein-DNA contacts were in good agreement with the predicted ones.