In several species, GAF domains, which are widely expressed small-molecule-binding domains that regulate enzyme activity, are known to bind cyclic nucleotides. However, the molecular mechanism by which cyclic nucleotide binding affects enzyme activity is not known for any GAF domain. In the cyanobacterium, Anabaena, the cyaB1 and cyaB2 genes encode adenylyl cyclases that are stimulated by bindi...

BACKGROUND Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) is well known internationally and widely used for scoring the severity of illness in psychiatry. Problems with GAF show a need for its further development (for example validity and reliability problems). The aim of the present study was to identify gaps in current knowledge about properties of GAF that are of interest for further development. Pr...

Phosphodiesterase-5 (PDE5) contains a catalytic domain (C domain) that hydrolyzes cGMP and a regulatory domain (R domain) that contains two mammalian cGMP-binding phosphodiesterase, Anabaena adenylyl cyclases, Escherichia coli FhlAs (GAFs) (A and B) and a phosphorylation site for cyclic nucleotide-dependent protein kinases (cNPKs). Binding of cGMP to GAF-A increases cNPK phosphorylation of PDE5...

Pseudomonas fluorescens WH6 secretes a germination-arrest factor (GAF) that we have identified previously as 4-formylaminooxyvinylglycine. GAF irreversibly inhibits germination of the seeds of numerous grassy weeds and selectively inhibits growth of the bacterial plant pathogen Erwinia amylovora. WH6-3, a mutant that has lost the ability to produce GAF, contains a Tn5 insertion in prtR, a gene ...

The genetic basis of the biosynthesis of the germination-arrest factor (GAF) produced by Pseudomonas fluorescens WH6, and previously identified as 4-formylaminooxyvinylglycine, has been investigated here. In addition to inhibiting the germination of a wide range of grassy weeds, GAF exhibits a selective antimicrobial activity against the bacterial plant pathogen Erwinia amylovora. We utilized t...

The Drosophila GAGA factor (GAF) controls transcription and other chromosome functions by altering chromatin structure. We found that a second GAGA-binding protein of Drosophila, Pipsqueak (Psq), can directly bind to GAF and is associated with GAF in vivo. Genetic interaction studies provide evidence that Psq and GAF act together in the transcriptional activation and silencing of homeotic genes...

GAF domains were first described for vertebrate cGMP-specific phosphodiesterases, a cyanobacterial adenylate cyclase and the bacterial formate hydrogen lyase transcription activator FhlA [1]. GAF domains consist of about 150 amino acids conserved in many signaling molecules. GAF domains (PF01590) can be identified in the Pfam database by their characteristic protein sequence signature. GAF doma...

The cGMP-binding cGMP-specific phosphodiesterase (PDE5) contains a catalytic domain that hydrolyzes cGMP and a regulatory (R) domain that contains two GAFs (a and b; GAF is derived from the proteins mammalian cGMP-binding PDEs, Anabaena adenylyl cyclases, and Escherichia coli (FhlA)). The R domain binds cGMP allosterically, provides for dimerization, and is phosphorylated at a site regulated by...

GAGA transcription factor (GAF) is an essential protein in Drosophila , important for the transcriptional regulation of numerous genes. GAF binds to GA repeats in the promoters of these genes via a DNA-binding domain containing a single zinc finger. While GAF binding sites are typically composed of 3.5 GA repeats, the Drosophila hsp70 gene contains much smaller elements, some of which are as li...

The Drosophila GAGA factor (GAF) has an extraordinarily diverse set of functions that include the activation and silencing of gene expression, nucleosome organization and remodeling, higher order chromosome architecture and mitosis. One hypothesis that could account for these diverse activities is that GAF is able to interact with partners that have specific and dedicated functions. To test thi...