DM domain
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| DM domain | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Drosophila melanogaster doublesex (dsx), nmr, 18 structures | |||||||||
| Identifiers | |||||||||
| Symbol | DM | ||||||||
| Pfam | PF00751 | ||||||||
| InterPro | IPR001275 | ||||||||
| SMART | SM00718 | ||||||||
| SCOP2 | 1rvv / SCOPe / SUPFAM | ||||||||
| |||||||||
In molecular biology the DM domain is a protein domain first discovered in the doublesex proteins of Drosophila melanogaster and is also seen in C. elegans and mammalian proteins.[1] In D. melanogaster the doublesex gene controls somatic sexual differentiation by producing alternatively spliced mRNAs encoding related sex-specific polypeptides.[2] These proteins are believed to function as transcription factors on downstream sex-determination genes, especially on neuroblast differentiation and yolk protein genes transcription.[3][4]
The DM domain binds DNA as a dimer, allowing the recognition of pseudopalindromic sequences .[2][5][6] The NMR analysis of the DSX DM domain [6] revealed a novel zinc module containing 'intertwined' CCHC and HCCC zinc-binding sites. The recognition of the DNA requires the carboxy-terminal basic tail which contacts the minor groove of the target sequence.