Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Evidence For A Bind-Then-Bend Mechanism For Architectural Dna Binding Protein Ynhp6a, Manas Kumar Sarangi, Viktoriya Zvoda, Molly Nelson Holte, Nicole A. Becker, Justin Peters, L. James Maher Iii, Anjum Ansari

Faculty Publications

The yeast Nhp6A protein (yNhp6A) is a member of the eukaryotic HMGB family of chromatin factors that enhance apparent DNA flexibility. yNhp6A binds DNA nonspecifically with nM affinity, sharply bending DNA by >60◦. It is not known whether the protein binds to unbent DNA and then deforms it, or if bent DNA conformations are ‘captured’ by protein binding. The former mechanism would be supported by discovery of conditions where unbent DNA is bound by yNhp6A. Here, we employed an array of conformational probes (FRET, fluorescence anisotropy, and circular dichroism) to reveal solution conditions in which an 18- base-pair DNA oligomer …