A comparative analysis of the ‘other roles’ of transcriptional factors from pathogenic organisms

Publication date: 25 July 2016
Source:Gene, Volume 586, Issue 2
Author(s): Angshuman Bagchi
Transcription factors are the proteins that regulate gene expressions by binding to the promoter DNA regions of the corresponding genes. There are a number of different transcription factors and all of them have DNA-binding signature sequences. Transcription factors are structurally classified as belonging to different families on the basis of the distribution of their secondary structural patterns. The amino acid sequences of the DNA-binding regions of the transcription factors belonging to the same family should therefore be identical. But careful analyses of these sequences reveal the presence of different mutations in them. On further analyses, the mutations are found to create new domains in the transcription factors thereby conferring them with some new functionality in addition to their regulatory roles. Here, an attempt has been made to analyze the mutations present in the transcription factors of pathogenic organisms. The possible effects of these mutations have been identified and correlated with the mechanisms of disease pathogenesis. So far this is the first report that predicts the presence of the new functionality of the transcription factors, which also can augment disease propagation by the pathogens. This analysis would therefore be beneficial to future genetic studies to identify the effects of the mutations in the transcription factors for disease propagation.

Graphical abstract

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