• Molecules and Cells
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• v.40 no.8
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• pp.533-541
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• 2017

Engineered DNA-binding domains provide a powerful technology for numerous biomedical studies due to their ability to recognize specific DNA sequences. Zinc fingers (ZF) are one of the most common DNA-binding domains and have been extensively studied for a variety of applications, such as gene regulation, genome engineering and diagnostics. Another novel DNA-binding domain known as a transcriptional activator-like effector (TALE) has been more recently discovered, which has a previously undescribed DNA-binding mode. Due to their modular architecture and flexibility, TALEs have been rapidly developed into artificial gene targeting reagents. Here, we describe the methods used to design these DNA-binding proteins and their key applications in biomedical research.

• Proceedings of the Microbiological Society of Korea Conference
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• 2000.10a
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• pp.15-23
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• 2000

The subcellular localization of the SopB protein, which is encoded by the Escherichia coli F plasmid and is involved in the partition of the single-copy plasmid, was directly visualized through the expression of the protein fused to the jellyfish green fluorescent protein (GFP). The fusion protein was found to localize to positions close but not at the poles of exponentially growing cells. Examination of derivatives of the fusion protein lacking various regions of SopB suggests that the signal for the cellular localization of SopB resides in a region close to its N terminus. Overexpression of SopB led to silencing of genes linked to, but well-separated from, a cluster of SopB-binding sites termed sopC. In this SopB-mediated repression of sopC-linked genes, all but the N-terminal 82 amino acids of SopB can be replaced by the DNA-binding domain of a sequence-specific DNA -binding protein, provided that the sopC locus is also replaced by the recognition sequence of the DNA-binding domain. These results suggest a mechanism of gene silencing: patches of closely packed DNA-binding protein is localized to specific cellular sites; such a patch can capture a DNA carrying the recognition site of the DNA -binding domain and sequestrate genes adjacent to the recognition site through nonspecific binding of DNA.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.1300-1302
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• 2013

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.20 no.11
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• pp.1319-1322
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• 1999

Leucine zipper dynamically tunes the degree of bifurcation of the DNA binding segments in the basic region of the Fos-Jun bZIP complex. Molecular dynamics simulation indicated that site-specific mutagenesis of conserved leucine residues inside the leucine zipper domain caused the change of dynamic behavior of the basic region, and efficient DNA binding occurs only within a certain range of distance between the two DNA binding segments in the basic region. Distribution of α-helices in the hinge region is also suggested to influence the bifurcation of the DNA binding segments.

• BMB Reports
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 1996

The binding interaction of ethidium to a series of synthetic deoxyoligonucleotides containing a B-Z junction between left-handed Z-DNA and right-handed B-DNA, was studied. The series of deoxyoligonucleotides was designed so as to vary a dinucleotide step immediately adjacent to a B-Z junction region. Ethidium binds to the right-handed DNA forms and hybrid B-Z forms which contain a B-Z junction, in a highly cooperative manner. In a series of deoxyoligonucleotides, the binding affinity of ethidium with DNA forms which were initially hybrid B-Z forms shows over an order of magnitude higher than that with any other DNA forms, which were entirely in B-form DNA The cooperativity of binding isotherms were described by an allosteric binding model and by a neighbor exclusion model. The binding data were statistically compared for two models. The conformation of allosterically converted DNA forms under binding with ethidium is found to be different from that of the initial B-form DNA as examined by CD spectra. The ratio of the binding constant was interestingly correlated to the free energy of base unstacking and the conformational conversion of the dinucleotide. The more the base stacking of the dinucleotide is unstable, or the harder the conversion of B to A conformation, the higher the ratio of the binding constant of ethidium with the allosterically converted DNA forms and with the initial B-Z hybrid forms. DNA sequence around a B-Z junction region affects the binding affinity of ethidium. The results in this study demonstrate that ethidium could preferentially interact with unusual DNA structures.

• Proceedings of the Microbiological Society of Korea Conference
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.159-161
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• 2002

Bacteriophage lambda integrase carries out the site-specific recombination of lambda. Integrase contains two DNA binding domains with distinct sequence specificity, namely arm-type binding and core-type binding domains. The amino-terminal arm-binding domain is structurally related to the three-stranded $\beta-sheet$ family of DNA-binding domains. Integrase binding to the high affinity arm-type site by the amino-terminal domain facilitates Int binding to the low affinity core-type site, where the cleavage and strand exchange occurs. The amino-terminal domain of Int also modulates the core-binding and catalysis through intramolecular domain-domain interaction and/or intermolecular interactions between Int monomers. In addition, the amino-terminal domain interacts cooperatively with excisionase during excision. This indicates that amino-terminal domain of Int plays an important role in formation of proper higher-order nucleoprotein structure required for lambda site-specific recombination.

• Journal of Plant Biology
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.279-286
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• 1996

To know the changes of rbcL mRNA level by illumination, Northern hybridization analysis was performed with maize (Zea mays L.cv. Golden X Bantam). The average level of rbcL. mRNA in the light-grown shoots was 3.1 times higher than that of the dark-grown shoots after 6 to 10 growth days. The maximum difference of rbcL mRNA level between the dark-grown and the light-grown shoots was 5.1 folds. These results indicate that accumulation of rbcL mRNAin maize shoots is induced by light. Since the transcriptional DNA binding proteins and their cognate promoter elements, we carried out gel-retardation assays to elucidate the specific binding proteins on the rbcL promoter. It was found that plastid proteins of light-grown shoots bound to the R2 DNA fragment (-33 to -229) and R3 DNA fragment (-230 to -418 from ATG) of the rbcL promoter. From the results of competitive binding assays and heat or protease treatments, it was demonstrated that the bindings were sequence-specific DNA-protein interactions. Therefore, it could be concluded that the rbcL promoter region has at least two specific recognition sites for plastid proteins.

• BMB Reports
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• v.38 no.6
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• pp.690-694
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• 2005

Transcription termination of the human mitochondrial genome requires specific binding to termination factor mTERF. In this study, mTERF was produced in E. coli and purified by two-step chromatography. mTERF-binding DNA sequences were isolated from a pool of randomized sequences by the repeated selection of bound sequences by gel-mobility shift assay and polymerase chain reaction. Sequencing and comparison of the 23 isolated clones revealed a 16-bp consensus sequence of 5'-GTG$\b{TGGC}$AGANCCNGG-3' in the light-strand (underlined residues were absolutely conserved), which nicely matched the genomic 13-bp terminator sequence 5'-$\b{TGGC}$AGAGCCCGG-3'. Moreover, mTERF binding assays of heteroduplex and single-stranded DNAs showed mTERF recognized the light strand in preference to the heavy strand. The preferential binding of mTERF with the light-strand may explain its distinct orientation-dependent termination activity.

• BMB Reports
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.407-412
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• 2010

Homeodomain (HD) is a highly conserved DNA-binding domain composed of helix-turn-helix motif. Drosophila Vnd (Ventral nervous system defective) containing HD acts as a regulator to either enhance or suppress gene expression upon binding to its target sequence. In this study, kinetic analysis of Vnd binding to DNA was performed. The result demonstrates that DNA-binding affinity of the recombinant protein containing HD and NK2-specific domain (NK2-SD) was higher than that of the full-length Vnd. To access whether phosphorylation sites within HD and NK2-SD affect the interaction of the protein with the target sequence, alanine substitutions were introduced. The result shows that S631A mutation within NK2-SD does not contribute significantly to the DNA-binding affinity. However, S571A and T600A mutations within HD showed lower affinity for DNA binding. In addition, DNA-binding analysis using embryonic nuclear protein also demonstrates that Vnd interacts with other nuclear proteins, suggesting the existence of Vnd as a complex.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.1022-1027
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• 2005

Based on plasmid display technology by the complexes of fusion protein and the encoding plasmid DNA, an in vitro selection method for high affinity DNA-binding protein was developed and experimentally demonstrated. The GAL4 DNA-binding domain (GAL4 DBD) was selected as a model DNA-binding protein, and enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) was used as an expression reporter for the selection of target proteins. Error prone PCR was conducted to construct a mutant library of the model. Based on the affinity decrease with increased salt concentration, mutants of GAL4 DBD having high affinity were selected from the mutant protein library of protein-encoding plasmid complex by this method. Two mutants of (Lys33Glu, Arg123Lys, Ile127Lys) and (Ser47Pro, Ser85Pro) having high affinity were obtained from the first generation mutants. This method can be used for rapid in vitro selection of high affinity DNA-binding proteins, and has high potential for the screening of high affinity DNA-binding proteins in a sequence-specific manner.