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Analysis of IFI16 protein binding to DNA
Kratochvilová, Libuše ; Smetana, Jan (referee) ; Brázda, Václav (advisor)
This diploma thesis deals with the binding of interferon gamma-inducible protein 16 (IFI16) to DNA with the potential of G-quadruplex formation. The IFI16 protein contains two tandemly located DNA-binding HIN domains showing differential binding to DNA structures. IFI16 protein has been shown to preferentially bind G-quadruplex structures over other nucleic acid secondary structures. G-quadruplexes are secondary local structures of DNA (or RNA) that are easily formed under physiological conditions in a number of important regulatory regions of the genome, or are part of the genomes of a number of viruses and pathogens. The ability to recognize, specifically bind and stabilize G-quadruplex structures explains the involvement of the IFI16 protein in the cellular processes of replication, transcription and translation and the establishment of innate immune responses. In the first part of the thesis, the sequences of synthetic oligonucleotides with the potential for G-quadruplex formation were characterized by selected biophysical methods and the full-length IFI16 protein was isolated, which was subsequently used for in vitro binding and competitive binding experiments with characterized oligonucleotides. In the last part of the work, isogenic yeast strains differing in the sequences of the responsive element were transformed with plasmid vectors for the expression of p53 and IFI16 proteins with constitutive and GAL inducible promoters, and the one-hybrid yeast system model was optimized for the study of IFI16 protein interactions in vivo. The results show that most of the analyzed sequences are able to form G-quadruplex structures in vitro, even in the presence of only one run of three or more G-bases. While the presence of several G-runs separated by a single nucleotide spacer led to the formation of intermolecular G-quadruplex structures, mutation in the original G-quadruplex sequence induced the formation of intramolecular structures with different conformations. In vitro binding and competitive binding experiments demonstrated specific binding of the IFI16 protein to G-quadruplex structures without differences in protein binding preference to a particular G-quadruplex conformation. Stabilization of G-quadruplex structures in vivo behind the transcription factor responsive element (p53) in the gene promoter induced repression of the transcription of the given gene. In the absence of any binding site of the IFI16 protein, a protein-protein interaction between the IFI16 and p53 proteins occurred, which led to an increase in the transactivation potential of the p53 protein, while the binding of the p53 protein and initiation of reporter gene transcription was influenced not only by the presence of the G-quadruplex motif and its stabilization, but and the DNA sequence adjacent to the p53 responsive element.
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