Evolutionary conservation and DNA binding properties of the Ssh7 proteins from Sulfolobus shibatae

作     者：陈绪林 郭荣 黄力 Ray Hong 

作者机构：Pomona CollegeCA91711 

出 版 物：《Science China(Life Sciences)》 (中国科学（生命科学英文版）)

年 卷 期：2002年第45卷第6期

页      面：583-592页

学科分类：0710[理学-生物学] 071010[理学-生物化学与分子生物学] 081704[工学-应用化学] 07[理学] 08[工学] 0817[工学-化学工程与技术] 

基　　金：This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 39770006 & 39925001) 

主　　题：hyperthermophilic archaea, DNA binding proteins, ssh7a/ssh7b genes, protein-DNA interaction. 

摘      要：The thermoacidophilic archaeon Sulfolobus shibatae synthesizes a large amount of the 7-ku DMA binding proteins known as Ssh7. Our hybridization experiments showed that two Ssh7-encoding genes existed in the genome of S. shibatae. These two genes, designated ssh7a and ssh7b, have been cloned, sequenced and expressed in Escherichia coli. The two Ssh7 proteins differ only at three amino acid positions. In addition, the c/s-regulatory sequences of the ssh7a and ssh7b genes are highly conserved. These results suggest the presence of a selective pressure to maintain not only the sequence but also the expression of the two genes. We have also found that there are two genes encoding the 7-ku protein in Sulfolobus solfataricus. Based on this and other studies, we suggest that the gene encoding the 7-ku protein underwent duplication before the separation of Sulfolobus species. Binding of native Ssh7 and recombinant (r)Ssh7 to short duplex DNA fragments was analyzed by electrophoretic mobility shift assays. Both native and recombinant forms of the protein behaved in a similar fashion in the assays, suggesting that the interaction of Ssh7 with DNA is not affected either by specific lysine methylation found in the native Ssh7 proteins or by the difference between the two Ssh7 isomers in amino acid sequence. Our data show that Ssh7 binds duplex DNA fragments with a binding size of - 6.6 base pairs and an apparent dissociation constant of (0.7-1.0)×10-7 mol/L under the assay conditions employed in the present study. In addition, Ssh7 binds more tightly to negatively supercoiled DNA than to linear or relaxed DNA.