2hy6
A seven-helix coiled coilA seven-helix coiled coil
Structural highlights
FunctionGCN4_YEAST Is a transcription factor that is responsible for the activation of more than 30 genes required for amino acid or for purine biosynthesis in response to amino acid or purine starvation. Binds and recognize the DNA sequence: 5'-TGA[CG]TCA-3'. Publication Abstract from PubMedCoiled-coil proteins contain a characteristic seven-residue sequence repeat whose positions are designated a to g. The interacting surface between alpha-helices in a classical coiled coil is formed by interspersing nonpolar side chains at the a and d positions with hydrophilic residues at the flanking e and g positions. To explore how the chemical nature of these core amino acids dictates the overall coiled-coil architecture, we replaced all eight e and g residues in the GCN4 leucine zipper with nonpolar alanine side chains. Surprisingly, the alanine-containing mutant forms a stable alpha-helical heptamer in aqueous solution. The 1.25-A resolution crystal structure of the heptamer reveals a parallel seven-stranded coiled coil enclosing a large tubular channel with an unusual heptad register shift between adjacent staggered helices. The overall geometry comprises two interleaved hydrophobic helical screws of interacting cross-sectional a and d layers that have not been seen before. Moreover, asparagines at the a positions play an essential role in heptamer formation by participating in a set of buried interhelix hydrogen bonds. These results demonstrate that heptad repeats containing four hydrophobic positions can direct assembly of complex, higher-order coiled-coil structures with rich diversity for close packing of alpha-helices. A seven-helix coiled coil.,Liu J, Zheng Q, Deng Y, Cheng CS, Kallenbach NR, Lu M Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2006 Oct 17;103(42):15457-62. Epub 2006 Oct 9. PMID:17030805[1] From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. See AlsoReferences
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