Phenotypic Nonspecificity as the Result of Limited Specificity of Transcription Factor Function

Figure 1

The specific amino acid base interactions of DNA binding protein domains with their recognition site. The interaction of a glutamine (green) of the 434 lambda repressor with a specific A:T base pair (blue:teal) (a) [4]. The interaction of the aspartic acids (blue) of two HD TAL repeats with cytosine bases (brown) (b) [5]. The interaction of the glutamine (yellow) of the wild-type Engrailed Q50 homeodomain with TA:AT base pairs (teal:blue) (c). The interaction of the lysine (yellow) of the change of specificity mutant Engrailed K50 homeodomain with GG:CC base pairs (teal:blue) (d) [12]. All images were generated with the Cn3D rendering program from the coordinates in the NCBI database [13].

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(b)

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