Embryonic neural inducing factor churchill is not a DNA-binding zinc finger protein: solution structure reveals a solvent-exposed beta-sheet and zinc binuclear cluster.

ABSTRACT: Churchill is a zinc-containing protein that is involved in neural induction during embryogenesis. At the time of its discovery, it was thought on the basis of sequence alignment to contain two zinc fingers of the C4 type. Further, binding of an N-terminal GST-Churchill fusion protein to a particular DNA sequence was demonstrated by immunoprecipitation selection assay, suggesting that Churchill may function as a transcriptional regulator by sequence-specific DNA binding. We show by NMR solution structure determination that, far from containing canonical C4 zinc fingers, the protein contains three bound zinc ions in novel coordination sites, including an unusual binuclear zinc cluster. The secondary structure of Churchill is also unusual, consisting of a highly solvent-exposed single-layer b

SUBMITTER: Lee BM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1994575 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature