Binding of the protein disulfide isomerase isoform ERp60 to the nuclear matrix-associated regions of DNA

✍ Scribed by Anna Ferraro; Fabio Altieri; Sabina Coppari; Margherita Eufemi; Silvia Chichiarelli; Carlo Turano

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 160 KB
• Volume: 72
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0730-2312
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-4644(19990315)72:4<528::aid-jcb8>3.0.co;2-v

✦ Synopsis

Protein ERp60, previously found in the internal nuclear matrix in chicken liver nuclei, is a member of the protein disulfide isomerase family. It binds DNA and double helical polynucleotides in vitro with a preferential recognition toward the matrix-associated regions of DNA and poly(dA) x poly(dT), and its binding is inhibited by distamycin. ERp60 can be cross-linked chemically to DNA in the intact nuclei, suggesting that its association with DNA is present in vivo. As a whole, these results indicate that ERp60 is a component of the subset of nuclear matrix proteins that are responsible for the attachment of DNA to the nuclear matrix and for the formation of DNA loops. A distinctive feature of this protein, which has two thioredoxin-like sites, is that its affinity to poly(dA) x poly(dT) is strongly dependent on its redox state. Only its oxidized form, in fact, does it bind poly(dA) x poly(dT). The hypothesis can be made that through the intervention of ERp60, the redox state of the nucleus influences the formation or the stability of some selected nuclear matrix-DNA interactions.