Thermodynamic characterization of the folding coupled DNA binding by the monomeric transcription activator GCN4 peptide

Dimerization is a widely believed critical requirement for the yeast transcriptional activator GCN4 specifically recognizing its DNA target sites. Nonetheless, the binding of the monomeric GCN4 to DNA target sites AP-1 and ATF/CREB was recently detected by kinetic studies. Here, for the first time, we present a detailed description of the thermodynamics of a monomeric peptide GCN4-br, the basic region (226-252) of GCN4, binding to AP-1, and ATF/CREB. GCN4 specifically binds to AP-1 and ATF/CREB in the monomeric form as shown by our circular dichroism thermal unfolding measurements. Isothermal titration calorimetry experiments indicate that the binding process of GCN4-br with DNA is enthalpically driven, accompanied by an unfavorable entropy change. The temperature dependence of DeltaH(0) reveals negative changes in heat capacity DeltaC(p): DeltaC(p) = -0.92 kJ . mol(-1) K-1 and DeltaC(p) = -0.95 kJ . mol(-1) K-1 for GCN4-br binding to AP-1 and ATF/CREB, respectively, which is a striking manifestation of GCN4-br specifically recognizing DNA target sites. These thermodynamic characteristics may give new insight into the mechanism by which GCN4 protein binds to DNA target sites for its transcriptional regulation.