Functional trends in structural classes of the DNA binding domains of regulatory transcription factors

Pac Symp Biocomput. 2008:441-52.

Abstract

The DNA-binding domain (DBD) structure of a regulatory transcription factor (TF) is important in determining its DNA sequence specificity, but it is unclear whether a relationship exists between DBD structure and general TF biological function or regulatory mechanism. We observed moderate enrichment of functional annotation terms among TFs of the same structural class in Escherichia coli, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Drosophila melanogaster, or Mus musculus, suggesting some preference for TFs of similar structures in the regulation of similar processes. In yeast, we also found trends among TF structural classes in phenomena including gene expression coherence, DNA binding site motif similarity, the general or specific nature of TFs' regulatory roles, and the position of a TF in a gene regulatory network. These results suggest that the biophysical constraints of different TF structural classes play a role in their gene regulatory mechanisms.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Binding Sites
  • Biophysical Phenomena
  • Biophysics
  • Computational Biology
  • DNA / genetics
  • DNA / metabolism*
  • Databases, Protein
  • Drosophila Proteins / chemistry
  • Drosophila Proteins / classification
  • Drosophila Proteins / metabolism
  • Escherichia coli Proteins / chemistry
  • Escherichia coli Proteins / classification
  • Escherichia coli Proteins / metabolism
  • Gene Expression Regulation
  • Mice
  • Models, Biological
  • Protein Structure, Tertiary
  • Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins / chemistry
  • Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins / classification
  • Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins / metabolism
  • Transcription Factors / chemistry*
  • Transcription Factors / classification*
  • Transcription Factors / metabolism

Substances

  • Drosophila Proteins
  • Escherichia coli Proteins
  • Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins
  • Transcription Factors
  • DNA