Appendages are thought to have arisen during evolution as outgrowths from the body wall of primitive bilateria. In Drosophila, subsets of body wall cells are set aside as appendage precursors through the action of secreted signaling proteins that direct localized expression of transcription factors. The Drosophila homeodomain protein Distal-less is expressed in the leg primordia and required fo...

Transcriptional control is exerted by the antagonistic activities of activator and repressor proteins. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, transcription factor complexes containing the MADS box protein Mcm1p are key regulators of cell cycle-dependent transcription at both the G2/M and M/G1 transitions. The homeodomain repressor protein Yox1p acts in a complex with Mcm1p to control the timing of gene e...

Recently, we described a strategy for the design of miniature proteins that bind DNA and protein surfaces with high affinity and selectivity. This strategy involves identifying the functional epitope required for macromolecular recognition by a natural protein and presenting it on a small, stable protein scaffold. In previous work, high-affinity DNA recognition was achieved only when the miniat...

A cascade of 20-hydroxyecdysone-mediated gene expression and repression initiates larva-to-pupa metamorphosis. We recently showed that two transcription factors, BmPOUM2 and BmβFTZ-F1, bind to the cis-regulatory elements in the promoter of the gene coding for cuticle protein, BmWCP4, and regulate its expression during Bombyx mori metamorphosis. Here we show that down-regulation of BmPOUM2 expre...

Cdx2 encodes for a homeodomain protein that is expressed in intestinal epithelial cells. The Cdx2 protein triggers intestinal differentiation in cell lines and is necessary for maintenance of the intestinal phenotype in mice. CBP (CREB-binding protein) is a transcriptional co-activator that interacts with many transcription factors and components of the basal transcriptional machinery. In this ...

Motor neurons extend axons along specific trajectories, but the molecules that control their pathfinding remain poorly defined. We show that two LIM homeodomain transcription factors, Lim1 and Lmx1b, control the initial trajectory of motor axons in the developing mammalian limb. The expression of Lim1 by a lateral set of lateral motor column (LMC) neurons ensures that their axons select a dorsa...

Two homeodomain proteins, Yox1 and Yhp1, act as repressors at early cell cycle boxes (ECBs) to restrict their activity to the M/G1 phase of the cell cycle in budding yeast. These proteins bind to Mcm1 and to a typical homeodomain binding site. The expression of Yox1 is periodic and directly correlated with its binding to, and repression of, ECB activity. The absence of Yox1 and Yhp1 or the cons...

We propose a computationally effective approach that builds on Landau mean-field theory in combination with modern nonequilibrium statistical mechanics to model and interpret protein dynamics and structure formation in small- to wide-angle x-ray scattering (S/WAXS) experiments. We develop the methodology by analyzing experimental data in the case of Engrailed homeodomain protein as an example. ...

Transcription factors coordinate the orderly changes of gene expression that underlie all developmental processes including those of oligodendrocytes. In comparison to other systems, relatively little is known about the role of transcription factors during oligodendrocyte development. However, recent years have seen the identification of oligodendroglial transcription factors that, not surprisi...

Peptidyl arms extending from one protein domain to another protein domain mediate many important interactions in biology. A well-studied example of this type of protein-protein interaction occurs between the yeast homeodomain proteins, MAT alpha2 and MAT a1, which form a high-affinity heterodimer on DNA. The carboxyl-terminal arm extending from MAT alpha2 to MAT a1 has been proposed to produce ...