Palindromes

Palindromic base pairs that are most frequent at the two ends are green, and the pseudo-twofold symmetry axis is Indicated by a red dot. 

Approximately 10 base pairs are required to make one turn in B-DNA. The centers of the palindromic sequences in the DNA-binding regions of the operator are also separated by about 10 base pairs (see Table 8.1). Thus if one of the recognition a helices binds to one of the palindromic DNA sequences, the second recognition a helix of the protein dimer is poised to bind to the second palindromic DNA sequence. 

The protein-DNA interactions have been analyzed in detail at high resolution in the complex between the 434 repressor fragment and the ORl containing 20mer DNA. A pseudo-twofold symmetry axis relates the halves of this complex. The symmetry is not exact since the nucleotide sequence of the DNA is slightly different in each half (see Table 8.2). However, the interactions between one protein subunit and one half of the DNA are very similar to those between the second subunit and the other half of the DNA since most of the bases that interact with the protein are identical in both halves. Details of the interaction are very similar to those in the complex with the palindromic synthetic 14mer of DNA shown in Figures 8.14 and 8.15. The base pairs at one end of the DNA, 1-14, 2-13, etc. are called base pairs 1, 2, etc. 

Figure 8.14 Overall view of the complex between 434 repressor fragment and a palindromic synthetic 14mer of DNA (see Table 8.2). The two binding sites of the repressor dimer to the DNA are identical.

The central 10 base pairs of the palindromic DNA molecule have a regular B-DNA structure. Between base pairs 5 and 6 in each half of the fragment (base pairs are counted from the center) there is a 40° kink which causes these base pairs to be unstacked (Figure 8.24a). After this localized kink the two end regions have an essentially B-DNA structure. The kink occurs at a TG step in the sequence GTG. These TG steps at positions 5 and 6 are highly conserved in both halves of different CAP-binding sites, presumably in part because they facilitate kinking. 

Many proteins that switch off or on gene expression in bacteria are dimeric molecules, and the DNA sequences that they specifically recognize are palindromic at their ends. The twofold symmetry of the protein is therefore matched by twofold symmetry at the ends of the recognition sequence. 

Figure 9.7 Sequence specific interactions between TBP and the TATA box. Asn 69 and Thr 124 from one domain and the equivalent residues Asn 159 and Thr 215 from the second domain interact with the palindromic TATA sequence of the central region of the TATA box.

Like Thr 124 and Thr 215, the Asn 69 and Asn 159 residues occupy equivalent positions in the two homologous motifs of TBP. By analogy with the symmetric binding of a dimeric repressor molecule to a palindromic sequence described in Chapter 8, the two motifs of TBP form symmetric sequence-specific hydrogen bonds to the quasi-palindromic DNA sequence at the center of the TATA box. The consensus TATA-box sequence has an A-T base pair at position 4, but either a T-A or an A-T base pair at the symmetry-related position 5, and the sequence is, therefore, not strictly palindromic. However, the hydrogen bonds in the minor groove can be formed equally well to an A-T base pair or to a T-A base pair, because 02 of thymine and N3 of adenine occupy nearly stereochemically equivalent positions, and it is sufficient, therefore, for the consensus sequence of the TATA box to be quasi-palindromic. 

The individual domains of the two receptors both have structures similar to that of the glucocorticoid receptor, and they bind to DNA in a similar way, with their recognition helices in the major groove. The dimer contacts are, however, totally different. In the glucocorticoid receptor, which binds to a palindromic DNA sequence like the 434 repressor described in Chapter 8, the domains interact symmetrically in a head-to-head fashion equivalent... 

Finite automata such as these are the simplest kind of computational model, and are not very powerful. For example, no finite automaton can accept the set of all palindromes over some specified alphabet. They certainly do not wield, in abstract terms, the full computational power of a conventional computer. For that we need a suitable generalization of the these primitive computational models. Despite the literally hundreds of computing models that have been proposed at one time or another since the beginning of computer science, it has been found that each has been essentially equivalent to just one of four fundamental models finite automata, pushdown automata, linear bounded automata and Turing machines. 

The first step in DNA sequencing is to cleave the enormous chain at known points to produce smaller, more manageable pieces, a task accomplished by the use of restriction endonucleases. Each different restriction enzyme, of which more than 3500 are known and approximately 200 are commercially available, cleaves a DNA molecule at a point in the chain where a specific base sequence occurs. For example, the restriction enzyme Alul cleaves between G and C in the four-base sequence AG-CT. Note that the sequence is a palindrome, meaning that the sequence (5 )-AGCT-(3 ) is the same as its complement (3 )-TCGA-(5 ) when both are read in the same 5 — 3 direction. The same is true for other restriction endonucleases. 

Sequence-specific transcription factors often bind as multimers especially as dimers to DNA. This allows binding of mirror-imaged sequences (palindromes) in the DNA that are separated by a few spacer nucleotides. The dimerization is stabilized by hydrophobic motifs within dimerization motifs of each transcription factor molecule. Dependent on the nature of the dimerization domain and the abundance of individual transcription factors homo- or heterodimers can form and bind to palindromes with differential activity. 

STAT binding site in the promoter region of cytokine-responsive genes. It is nonameric palindrome with relaxed sequence specificity.) sites, to regulate gene expression. Tyrosine phosphatases located in the nucleus then dephosphorylate STAT molecules (Fig. 1). 

It is believed that many transcription factors bind DNA as dimers ( dimeric transcription factors) in either the same or opposite orientation. The DNA sites therefore can look like two direct repeat sequences or like palindromes. The interaction of the subunits with each other must obviously be specific and be mediated by dimerization domains. Specificity and stability of the dimers (dimeric transcription factors) is mostly promoted by hydrophobic or ionic inteiphases, e.g. a... 

Proteins with the helix-turn-helix or leucine zipper motifs form symmetric dimers, and their respective DNA binding sites are symmetric palindromes. In proteins with the zinc finger motif, the binding site is repeated two to nine times. These features allow for cooperative interactions between binding sites and enhance the degree and affinity of binding. 

Palindrome A sequence of duplex DNA that is the same when the two strands are read in opposite directions. 

The use of toluene to induce oxygenation of haloalkanes has been discussed in Chapter 7, Part 3, and probes for toluene-2-monooxygenase have been used to evaluate the potential nnmber of TCE-degrading organisms in an aquifer (Fries et al. 1997b). In this study, repetitive extragenic palindromic PCR (REP-PCR) (de Bruijn 1992) of isolates was used to classify their metabolic capability. 

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