Sequence-Selective DNA Recognition: Natural Products and Nature’s Lessons

Daunomycin modifies the sequence-selective recognition of DNA by actinomycin.

The antitumour antibiotic actinomycin D normally binds to DNA by intercalation at sequences containing the CpG step, but in the presence of daunomycin it has been reported to interact with poly(dA-dT). This observation has neither been confirmed nor explained. Here we have used a photoreactive 7-azido derivative of actinomycin to study the effect of daunomycin on its binding to three DNA fragme...

A MODEL FOR THE BASIC HELIX- LOOPHELIX MOTIF AND ITS SEQUENCE SPECIFIC RECOGNITION OF DNA

A three dimensional model of the basic Helix-Loop-Helix motif and its sequence specific recognition of DNA is described. The basic-helix I is modeled as a continuous ?-helix because no ?-helix breaking residue is found between the basic region and the first helix. When the basic region of the two peptide monomers are aligned in the successive major groove of the cognate DNA, the hydrophobi...

Natural products: DNA double whammy.

Products of the fos and jun proto-oncogenes bind cooperatively to the AP1 DNA recognition sequence.

The products of the proto-oncogenes c-fos and c-jun form a tight protein complex that is a major component of the transcription factor AP1. To analyze the role of fos in the binding of this complex to the AP1 DNA recognition sequence and the mechanism of interaction in further detail, we have expressed a fos protein in E. coli using an expression vector containing the temperature-inducible lamb...

Lessons from total synthesis of hybrid natural products.

There are a vast number of interesting and useful compounds that are readily found in nature. Mother Nature has acquired ingenious ways of generating molecular diversity in living cells responsible for regulation of various biochemical events. This has inspired research into the synthesis of biologically active compounds for use as antibiotics or in cancer therapy, for example. This account pro...