Issue April 2007

category image Volume 24
No. 5 (p 429-514)
April 2007
ISSN 0739-110

Structural Studies on Pax-8 Prd Domain/DNA Complex (p. 429-442)

Pax-8 is a member of the Pax family of transcription factors and is essential in the development of thyroid follicular cells. Pax-8 has two DNA-binding domains: the paired domain and the homeo domain. In this study, a preliminary X-ray diffraction analysis of the mammalian Pax-8 paired domain in complex with the C-site of the thyroglobulin promoter was achieved. The Pax-8 paired domain was crystallized by the hanging-drop vapor-diffusion method in complex with both a blunt-ended 26 bp DNA fragment and with a sticky-ended 24 bp DNA fragment with two additional overhanging bases. Crystallization experiments make clear that the growth of transparent crystals with large dimensions and regular shape is particularly influenced by ionic strength. The crystals of Pax-8 complex with blunt-ended and sticky-ended DNA, diffracted synchrotron radiation to 6.0 and 8.0 Å resolution and belongs both to the C centered monoclinic system with cell dimensions: a = 89.88 Å, b = 80.05 Å, c = 67.73 Å, and β = 124.3° and a = 256.56, b = 69.07, c = 99.32 Å, and β = 98.1°, respectively. Fluorescence experiments suggest that the crystalline disorder, deduced by the poor diffraction, can be attributed to the low homogeneity of the protein-DNA sample. The theoretical comparative model of the Pax-8 paired domain complexed with the C-site of the thyroglobulin promoter shows the probable presence of some specific protein-DNA interactions already observed in other Pax proteins and the important role of the cysteine residues of PAI subdomain in the redox control of the DNA recognition.

Mara Campagnolo1
Alessandro Pesaresi1
Igor Zelezetsky1
Silvano Geremia1,*
Lucio Randaccio1
Alessia Bisca2
Gianluca Tell2

1Department of Chemical Sciences and Centre of Excellence in Biocrystallography
University of Trieste
Via L. Giorgieri 1
34127 Trieste, Italy
2Department of Biomedical Sciences and Technologies
University of Udine
Piazzale Kolbe, 4
33100 Udine, Italy

*geremia@univ.trieste.it

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