In molecular biology, GATA zinc fingers are

zinc Zinc is a chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. Zinc is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodi ...

-containing domains found in a number of

transcription factor In molecular biology, a transcription factor (TF) (or sequence-specific DNA-binding factor) is a protein that controls the rate of transcription of genetic information from DNA to messenger RNA, by binding to a specific DNA sequence. The fu ...

s (including erythroid-specific transcription factor and

nitrogen Nitrogen is the chemical element with the symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a nonmetal and the lightest member of group 15 of the periodic table, often called the pnictogens. It is a common element in the universe, estimated at se ...

regulatory proteins). Some members of this class of zinc fingers specifically bind the

DNA sequence DNA sequencing is the process of determining the nucleic acid sequence – the order of nucleotides in DNA. It includes any method or technology that is used to determine the order of the four bases: adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine. Th ...

(A/T)GATA(A/G) in the regulatory regions of

genes In biology, the word gene (from , ; "...Wilhelm Johannsen coined the word gene to describe the Mendelian units of heredity..." meaning ''generation'' or ''birth'' or ''gender'') can have several different meanings. The Mendelian gene is a ba ...

., giving rise to the name of the domain. In these domains, a single zinc

ion An ion () is an atom or molecule with a net electrical charge. The charge of an electron is considered to be negative by convention and this charge is equal and opposite to the charge of a proton, which is considered to be positive by conven ...

is coordinated by 4

cysteine Cysteine (symbol Cys or C; ) is a semiessential proteinogenic amino acid with the formula . The thiol side chain in cysteine often participates in enzymatic reactions as a nucleophile. When present as a deprotonated catalytic residue, sometime ...

residues. NMR studies have shown the core of the Znf to comprise 2 irregular anti-parallel beta-sheets and an

alpha-helix The alpha helix (α-helix) is a common motif in the secondary structure of proteins and is a right hand-helix conformation in which every backbone N−H group hydrogen bonds to the backbone C=O group of the amino acid located four residues ear ...

, followed by a long

loop Loop or LOOP may refer to: Brands and enterprises * Loop (mobile), a Bulgarian virtual network operator and co-founder of Loop Live * Loop, clothing, a company founded by Carlos Vasquez in the 1990s and worn by Digable Planets * Loop Mobile, an ...

to the C-terminal end of the finger. The N-terminal part, which includes the helix, is similar in structure, but not sequence, to the N-terminal zinc module of the glucocorticoid receptor DNA-binding domain. The helix and the loop connecting the 2 beta-sheets interact with the

major groove Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

of the DNA, while the C-terminal tail wraps around into the

minor groove Minor may refer to: * Minor (law), a person under the age of certain legal activities. ** A person who has not reached the age of majority * Academic minor, a secondary field of study in undergraduate education Music theory * Minor chord ** Bar ...

. Interactions between the Znf and DNA are mainly hydrophobic, explaining the preponderance of

thymine Thymine () ( symbol T or Thy) is one of the four nucleobases in the nucleic acid of DNA that are represented by the letters G–C–A–T. The others are adenine, guanine, and cytosine. Thymine is also known as 5-methyluracil, a pyrimidine nu ...

s in the binding site; a large number of interactions with the

phosphate In chemistry, a phosphate is an anion, salt, functional group or ester derived from a phosphoric acid. It most commonly means orthophosphate, a derivative of orthophosphoric acid . The phosphate or orthophosphate ion is derived from phospho ...

backbone have also been observed. Two GATA zinc fingers are found in GATA-family transcription factors. However, there are several

proteins Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, respo ...

that only contain a single copy of the domain. It is also worth noting that many GATA-type Znfs (such as those found in the proteins

GATAD2B Transcriptional repressor p66-beta is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''GATAD2B'' gene. Interactions GATAD2B has been shown to interact with Methyl-CpG-binding domain protein 2, MBD3, RBBP7 and RBBP4 #REDIRECT RBBP4 {{R from other c ...

and MTA1) have not been experimentally demonstrated to be DNA-binding domains. Furthermore, several GATA-type Znfs have been demonstrated to act as protein-recognition domains. For example, the N-terminal Znf of GATA1 binds specifically to a zinc finger from the transcriptional coregulator FOG1 ( ZFPM1).

References

External links

GATA family
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131207031610/http://planttfdb.cbi.pku.edu.cn/family.php?fam=GATA , date=2013-12-07 a
PlantTFDB: Plant Transcription Factor Database
Protein domains