Transactivation domain

In biochemistry, the transactivation domain is the sub-area (the domain ) of a transcription factor that is responsible for the transcriptional activation of DNA . The stimulation of transcription is achieved through the binding of specialized proteins, especially basal transcription factors and RNA polymerase .

properties

The function of a transcription factor - the activation or deactivation of genes - can be subdivided into various sub-functions, which are reflected in the structure of the protein . Frequently encountered domains are, in addition to the transactivation domain, for example a dimerization domain for binding to other proteins and a DNA binding domain for binding to regulatory regions of the DNA. If the transactivation domain of a transcription factor is removed in the course of a protein design , the resulting recombinant protein inhibits transcription: with the help of the DNA binding domain it is able to bind to DNA, but transcription is not activated. This results in a competition (a contest) between the recombinant protein and any wild-type protein that may be present for the limited number of specific DNA binding sites.

Individual evidence

1. ^ IJ McEwan, K. Dahlman-Wright, T. Amlöf, J. Ford, AP Wright, JA Gustafsson: Mechanisms of transcription activation by nuclear receptors: studies on the human glucocorticoid receptor tau 1 transactivation domain. In: Mutation research. Volume 333, Numbers 1-2, December 1995, pp 15-22, ISSN  0027-5107 . PMID 8538622 .
2. ^ R. Kumar, G. Litwack: Structural and functional relationships of the steroid hormone receptors' N-terminal transactivation domain. In: Steroids. Volume 74, Number 12, November 2009, pp. 877-883, ISSN  1878-5867 . doi : 10.1016 / j.steroids.2009.07.012 . PMID 19666041 . PMC 3074935 (free full text).