Publications by authors named "David F Sargent"

Site-specific recognition of DNA in eukaryotic organisms depends on the arrangement of nucleosomes in chromatin. In the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, ISW1a and related chromatin remodelling factors are implicated in establishing the nucleosome repeat during replication and altering nucleosome position to affect gene activity. Here we have solved the crystal structures of S.

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DNA in eukaryotic chromosomes is organized in arrays of nucleosomes compacted into chromatin fibres. This higher-order structure of nucleosomes is the substrate for DNA replication, recombination, transcription and repair. Although the structure of the nucleosome core is known at near-atomic resolution, even the most fundamental information about the organization of nucleosomes in the fibre is controversial.

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The FMNH(2)-dependent alkanesulfonate monooxygenase SsuD catalyzes the conversion of alkanesulfonates to the corresponding aldehyde and sulfite. The enzyme allows Escherichia coli to use a wide range of alkanesulfonates as sulfur sources for growth when sulfate or cysteine are not available. The structure of SsuD was solved using the multiwavelength anomalous dispersion method from only four ordered selenium sites per asymmetric unit (one site per 20,800 Da).

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S100 proteins are involved in metal-dependent intracellular signalling. Metal-free S100A3, a cysteine-rich Ca(2+)- and Zn(2+)-binding protein, has been crystallized by vapour diffusion under the strict exclusion of oxygen and in the absence of divalent metal ions. Metal binding induces large conformational changes, rendering the apo-S100A3 crystals very sensitive to various metal compounds.

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Solvent binding in the nucleosome core particle containing a 147 base pair, defined-sequence DNA is characterized from the X-ray crystal structure at 1.9 A resolution. A single-base-pair increase in DNA length over that used previously results in substantially improved clarity of the electron density and accuracy for the histone protein and DNA atomic coordinates.

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