Our overall goal is to continue our analysis of how regulatory proteins recognize specific sequences in DNA and turn transcription of genes on and off. We will continue to use biochemical, genetic, and physical methods for studying the structures and interactions of the protein and DNA molecules. We will concentrate on phage lambda and related organisms; the study of phage lambda has provided us with our most precise understanding of these processes, and recent developments promise important extensions of our understanding. Building in part on the results of X-ray crystallography, we now have precise models for how a large class of regulatory proteins recognize specific sequences in DNA, and aspects of these models will be further tested. The action of lambda repressor as a positive regulator provides a model for gene activation, and we will further explore the protein-protein interactions that underlie that process. The remarkable ability of lambda repressors to bind cooperatively to sites widely separated on DNA, with concomitant DNA looping, provides a suggestion of how many apparently disparate forms of gene activation and repression may by manifested by a common underlying mechanism; we will explore this important cooperative interaction in vivo and in vitro and study its effect on gene regulation.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)
Type
Method to Extend Research in Time (MERIT) Award (R37)
Project #
5R37GM022526-14
Application #
3484423
Study Section
Microbial Physiology and Genetics Subcommittee 2 (MBC)
Project Start
1978-09-01
Project End
1992-11-30
Budget Start
1989-12-01
Budget End
1990-11-30
Support Year
14
Fiscal Year
1990
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
Harvard University
Department
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
071723621
City
Cambridge
State
MA
Country
United States
Zip Code
02138
Sigal, G B; Bamdad, C; Barberis, A et al. (1996) A self-assembled monolayer for the binding and study of histidine-tagged proteins by surface plasmon resonance. Anal Chem 68:490-7
Astromoff, A; Ptashne, M (1995) A variant of lambda repressor with an altered pattern of cooperative binding to DNA sites. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 92:8110-4
Ohashi, Y; Brickman, J M; Furman, E et al. (1994) Modulating the potency of an activator in a yeast in vitro transcription system. Mol Cell Biol 14:2731-9
Reece, R J; Rickles, R J; Ptashne, M (1993) Overproduction and single-step purification of GAL4 fusion proteins from Escherichia coli. Gene 126:105-7
Bushman, F D; Shang, C; Ptashne, M (1989) A single glutamic acid residue plays a key role in the transcriptional activation function of lambda repressor. Cell 58:1163-71
Bushman, F D; Ptashne, M (1988) Turning lambda Cro into a transcriptional activator. Cell 54:191-7
Irwin, N; Ptashne, M (1987) Mutants of the catabolite activator protein of Escherichia coli that are specifically deficient in the gene-activation function. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 84:8315-9
Ptashne, M (1986) Gene regulation by proteins acting nearby and at a distance. Nature 322:697-701
Bushman, F D; Ptashne, M (1986) Activation of transcription by the bacteriophage 434 repressor. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 83:9353-7
Hochschild, A; Douhan 3rd, J; Ptashne, M (1986) How lambda repressor and lambda Cro distinguish between OR1 and OR3. Cell 47:807-16

Showing the most recent 10 out of 17 publications