Journal
BIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY
Volume 393, Issue 10, Pages 1055-1066Publisher
WALTER DE GRUYTER & CO
DOI: 10.1515/hsz-2012-0164
Keywords
cipher; structure; transcription activator-like effector (TALE)
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Funding
- Foundation for Polish Science
- EU European Regional Development Fund [TEAM/2010-6/1]
- European Union [229676]
- National Science Centre (NCN) [UMO-2011/02/A/NZ1/00052]
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Phytopathogen transcription activator-like effectors (TALEs) bind DNA in a sequence specific manner in order to manipulate host transcription. TALE specificity correlates with repeat variable diresidues in otherwise highly stereotypical 34-35mer repeats. Recently, the crystal structures of two TALE DNA-binding domains have illustrated the molecular basis of the TALE cipher. The structures show that the TALE repeats form a right-handed superhelix that is wound around largely undistorted B-DNA to match its helical parameters. Surprisingly, repeat variable residue 1 is not in contact with the bases. Instead, it is involved in hydrogen bonding interactions that stabilize the overall structure of the protein. Repeat variable residue 2 contacts the top strand base and forms sequence-specific hydrogen bonds and/or van der Waals contacts. Very unexpectedly, bottom strand bases are exposed to solvent and do not make any direct contacts with the protein. This review contains a summary of TALE biology and applications and a detailed description of the recent breakthroughs that have provided insights into the molecular basis of the TALE code.
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