Cell Biology

C.C. Thompson, T.A. Brown, S.L. McKnight, "Convergence of Ets- and Notch-related structural motifs in a heteromeric DNA binding complex," Science, 253:762, 1991.

Catherine C. Thompson (Carnegie Institution of Washington, Baltimore):

"Our analysis of GABP, the heteromeric DNA binding protein, revealed the functional properties of a structural motif found in a diverse array of proteins. One of the subunits of GABP, GABPa, is a member of the ETS family of DNA binding proteins. Although the other subunit, GABPb, does not bind to DNA by itself, it forms a complex with GABPa in which it stabilizes the binding of GABPa to DNA. We found that four imperfect tandem repeats of a 33-amino-acid motif at the amino terminus of GABPb mediate interaction with GABPa. This motif, the cdc10/SW16 or ankyrin repeat, had previously been identified in a variety of interesting proteins.

"Surprisingly, the proteins in which repeats had been identified seemed to lack...