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The ability of a transcription factor to locate and bind its cognate DNA site in the presence of closely related sites and a vast array of non-specific DNA is crucial for cell survival. The CREB/ATF family of transcription factors is an important group of basic region leucine zipper (bZIP) proteins that display high affinity for the CRE site and low affinity for the closely related AP-1 site. Members of the CREB/ATF family share in common a cluster of basic amino acids at the N-terminus of their bZIP element. This basic cluster is necessary and sufficient to cause the CRE site to bend upon binding of a CREB/ATF protein. The possibility that DNA bending and CRE/AP-1 specificity were linked in CREB/ATF proteins was investigated using chimeric peptides derived from human CRE-BP1 (a member of the CREB/ATF family) and yeast GCN4, which lacks both a basic cluster and CRE/AP-1 specificity. Gain of function and loss of function experiments demonstrated that the basic cluster was not responsible for the CRE/AP-1 specificity displayed by all characterized CREB/ATF proteins. The basic cluster was, however, responsible for inducing very high affinity for non- specific DNA. It was further shown that basic cluster-containing peptides bind non-specific DNA in a random coil conformation. We postulate that the high non- specific DNA affinities of basic cluster-containing peptides result from cooperative electrostatic interactions with the phosphate backbone that do not require peptide organization.

The role of a basic amino acid cluster in target site selection and non- specific binding of bZIP peptides to DNA