Browsing by Subject "crystal structure"

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    Crystal structure of the DNA binding domain of the transcription factor T-bet suggests simultaneous recognition of distant genome sites
    (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2016-10-25) Liu, Ce Feng; Brandt, Gabriel S.; Hoang, Quyen Q.; Naumova, Natalia; Lazarevic, Vanja; Hwang, Eun Sook; Dekker, Job; Glimcher, Laurie H.; Ringe, Dagmar; Petsko, Gregory A.; Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, IU School of Medicine
    The transcription factor T-bet (Tbox protein expressed in T cells) is one of the master regulators of both the innate and adaptive immune responses. It plays a central role in T-cell lineage commitment, where it controls the TH1 response, and in gene regulation in plasma B-cells and dendritic cells. T-bet is a member of the Tbox family of transcription factors; however, T-bet coordinately regulates the expression of many more genes than other Tbox proteins. A central unresolved question is how T-bet is able to simultaneously recognize distant Tbox binding sites, which may be located thousands of base pairs away. We have determined the crystal structure of the Tbox DNA binding domain (DBD) of T-bet in complex with a palindromic DNA. The structure shows a quaternary structure in which the T-bet dimer has its DNA binding regions splayed far apart, making it impossible for a single dimer to bind both sites of the DNA palindrome. In contrast to most other Tbox proteins, a single T-bet DBD dimer binds simultaneously to identical half-sites on two independent DNA. A fluorescence-based assay confirms that T-bet dimers are able to bring two independent DNA molecules into close juxtaposition. Furthermore, chromosome conformation capture assays confirm that T-bet functions in the direct formation of chromatin loops in vitro and in vivo. The data are consistent with a looping/synapsing model for transcriptional regulation by T-bet in which a single dimer of the transcription factor can recognize and coalesce distinct genetic elements, either a promoter plus a distant regulatory element, or promoters on two different genes.
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    Structure-based inhibitors halt prion-like seeding by Alzheimer’s disease–and tauopathy–derived brain tissue samples
    (The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 2019-11) Seidler, Paul Matthew; Boyer, David R.; Murray, Kevin A.; Yang, Tianxiao P.; Bentzel, Megan; Sawaya, Michael R.; Rosenberg, Gregory; Cascio, Duilio; Williams, Christopher Kazu; Newell, Kathy L.; Ghetti, Bernardino; DeTure, Michael A.; Dickson, Dennis W.; Vinters, Harry V.; Eisenberg, David S.; Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, School of Medicine
    In Alzheimer's disease (AD) and tauopathies, tau aggregation accompanies progressive neurodegeneration. Aggregated tau appears to spread between adjacent neurons and adjacent brain regions by prion-like seeding. Hence, inhibitors of this seeding offer a possible route to managing tauopathies. Here, we report the 1.0 Å resolution micro-electron diffraction structure of an aggregation-prone segment of tau with the sequence SVQIVY, present in the cores of patient-derived fibrils from AD and tauopathies. This structure illuminates how distinct interfaces of the parent segment, containing the sequence VQIVYK, foster the formation of distinct structures. Peptide-based fibril-capping inhibitors designed to target the two VQIVYK interfaces blocked proteopathic seeding by patient-derived fibrils. These VQIVYK inhibitors add to a panel of tau-capping inhibitors that targets specific polymorphs of recombinant and patient-derived tau fibrils. Inhibition of seeding initiated by brain tissue extracts differed among donors with different tauopathies, suggesting that particular fibril polymorphs of tau are associated with certain tauopathies. Donors with progressive supranuclear palsy exhibited more variation in inhibitor sensitivity, suggesting that fibrils from these donors were more polymorphic and potentially vary within individual donor brains. Our results suggest that a subset of inhibitors from our panel could be specific for particular disease-associated polymorphs, whereas inhibitors that blocked seeding by extracts from all of the tauopathies tested could be used to broadly inhibit seeding by multiple disease-specific tau polymorphs. Moreover, we show that tau-capping inhibitors can be transiently expressed in HEK293 tau biosensor cells, indicating that nucleic acid–based vectors can be used for inhibitor delivery.
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    Synthesis of 2′-Deoxy-2′-fluoro-L-cytidine and Fluorinated L-Nucleic Acids for Structural Studies
    (Wiley, 2021-10) Dantsu, Yuliya; Zhang, Ying; Zhang, Wen; Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Medicine
    The unique properties of fluorine atom on nucleic acid backbone can offer stricking functional and structural features. In order to extend the biological applications of L-type nucleic acid, we chemically incorporate the fluoro-modification into 2′-position of L-cytidine, and obtain a series of fluoro-modified L-DNAs/ L-RNAs. Our melting study indicates that the 2′-fluoro-modification does not disrupt the thermostabilities of wild-type L-nucleic acids. Consistently, our X-ray crystal structure reveals that fluoro-moiety cause no structural perturbation, and the fluoro-L-cytidine forms the Watson-Crick base pair with L-guanosine virtually identical to nonmodified L-type CG pair. This fluoro-modified cytidine provides a useful biochemical strategy to investigate L-nucleic acid as advanced molecular therapy.