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Leucine Zipper overview

Two proteins, entirely alpha helix, wind around each other; their ends fit into the major groove of DNA and 'seek' complementary surfaces among the exposed donors/acceptors.

Amino Acid Surfaces

2˚ Structure with H-bonds (yellow)

Spacefill all; DNA larger

1 each Color 1 DNA strand; one protein monomer

Zipper! (leucine sidechains in yellow & orange)

binding Alpha helix (of orange protein) 'looks at' major groove (of DNA); DNA backbone salmon-colored

Interactions Arginine kisses a guanine! Notice the 3 basepairing positions of guanine are still free to basepair! (partner cytosine in miniature)

Reset      Slice it!

Orientation

*To discover atom/amino acid identity, hover the mouse over it. Amino acids will show up using 3-letter code (i.e. [GLY] = glycine); DNA thymine= [DT]