Molecular sled is an eleven-amino acid vehicle facilitating biochemical interactions via sliding components along DNA.

Nat Commun
Authors
Keywords
Abstract

Recently, we showed the adenovirus proteinase interacts productively with its protein substrates in vitro and in vivo in nascent virus particles via one-dimensional diffusion along the viral DNA. The mechanism by which this occurs has heretofore been unknown. We show sliding of these proteins along DNA occurs on a new vehicle in molecular biology, a 'molecular sled' named pVIc. This 11-amino acid viral peptide binds to DNA independent of sequence. pVIc slides on DNA, exhibiting the fastest one-dimensional diffusion constant, 26±1.8 × 10(6) (bp)(2) s(-1). pVIc is a 'molecular sled,' because it can slide heterologous cargos along DNA, for example, a streptavidin tetramer. Similar peptides, for example, from the C terminus of β-actin or NLSIII of the p53 protein, slide along DNA. Characteristics of the 'molecular sled' in its milieu (virion, nucleus) have implications for how proteins in the nucleus of cells interact and imply a new form of biochemistry, one-dimensional biochemistry.

Year of Publication
2016
Journal
Nat Commun
Volume
7
Pages
10202
Date Published
2016 Feb 02
ISSN
2041-1723
URL
DOI
10.1038/ncomms10202
PubMed ID
26831565
PubMed Central ID
PMC4740752
Links
Grant list
R01 AI041599 / AI / NIAID NIH HHS / United States
R21 AI113565 / AI / NIAID NIH HHS / United States
R01AI41599 / AI / NIAID NIH HHS / United States
R21AI113565 / AI / NIAID NIH HHS / United States