Collaboration with Novartis on MYC/MAX transcription factor
In a collaboration with Stefan Schütz and Wolfgang Jahnke from Novartis, the transcription factor MYC/MAX, which plays an important role in cancer, was studied. Have a look at the mechanisticc insights into DNA scanning and specific binding just published in JMB.
In a collaboration with Stefan Schütz and Wolfgang Jahnke from Novartis, the transcription factor MYC/MAX, which plays an important role in cancer, was studied. In particular the influence of the unstructured N-terminal part of MAX was examined in detail by NMR and SPR. The highly negatively charged N-terminus competes with DNA for binding to MYC/MAX. In this way, unspecific DNA binding is effectively weakened by this intramolecular interaction, and specificity for the canonical E-box DNA is significantly increased. This mechanism thus enables efficient screening of the DNA and subsequent tight binding to the target sequence.