2009/07/28 by Christopher M. Frenz, Frenz, Christopher M., Philippe Lefèbvre +2
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Materials Science · #Biomolecules (q-bio.BM) #DNA and Nucleic Acid Chemistry #FOS: Biological sciences #Photochromic and Fluorescence Chemistry #bioluminescence and chemiluminescence research #q-bio.BM
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.0907.4819
Frenz, C.M. & Lefebvre, P.P. (2009) Presence of pKa Perturbations Among Homeodomain Residues Facilitates DNA Binding, Proceedings of the 2009 International Conference on Bioinformatics and Computational Biology (BIOCOMP '09), 198-203
arxiv created 2009/07/28 · openalex publication_date 2009/07/28 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Homeodomain containing proteins are a broad class of DNA binding proteins that are believed to primarily function as transcription factors. Electrostatics interactions have been demonstrated to be critical for the binding of the homeodomain to DNA. An examination of the electrostatic state of homeodomain residues involved in DNA phosphate binding has demonstrated the conserved presence of upward shifted pKa values among the basic residue of lysine and arginine. It is believed that these pKa perturbations work to facilitate binding to DNA since they ensure that the basic residues always retain a positive charge.