Transcriptional Regulation in the Cell Cycle
Abstract
The long-range objective of this project is to uncover conformational changes in DNA and understand their biological roles with some emphasis on transcriptional regulation. The conformational changes are uncovered largely by x-ray diffraction investigations. The biological roles associated with these changes are generally addressed by isolating proteins that bind to DNA with altered conformation in order to uncover their biological activities. One of the important events associated with transcriptional activation is the formation of DNA loops in regulatory regions. Looping brings together regulatory segment of DNA. The looping involves bending of the NDA at specific segments. It has been known that segments of oligo (dA).oligo(dt) are associated with DNA bending. Recently, we have solved the structure of a DNA dodecamer that incorporates a segment of d(A3T3). Knowledge of the details of this conformation suggest they may be important in providing bending points in DNA looping. Z-DNA affinity columns have been used for isolating Z-DNA binding proteins. Recently we have found such proteins that are active in carrying out the strand transferase activity that is involved in homologous recombination.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 14, 1988
- Accession Number
- ADA200715
Entities
People
- Alexander Rich
Organizations
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology