Figures
Structural Basis of Notch Pathway Repression
Notch signaling is a form of cell-to-cell communication, in which extracellular receptor-ligand interactions ultimately result in changes in gene expression. The Notch pathway is highly conserved from the model organism Drosophila melanogaster to humans, and mutations that affect Notch pathway components can lead to human disease, such as certain types of cancers and birth defects. The transcription factor CSL regulates gene expression in response to Notch pathway signaling. Yuan et al. now present the X-ray structure of the complex between the fruit fly version of CSL (Suppressor of Hairless), and its antagonist, Hairless, revealing a novel binding mode and unanticipated structural plasticity. In this image, CSL is represented as a gray surface with the residues that contact Hairless colored orange; Hairless is colored yellow, and the DNA of the target gene is colored purple and pink.
Image Credit: 10.1371/journal.pbio.1002509.g002
Citation: (2016) PLoS Biology Issue Image | Vol. 14(7) July 2016. PLoS Biol 14(7): ev14.i07. https://doi.org/10.1371/image.pbio.v14.i07
Published: July 29, 2016
Copyright: © 2016 Yuan et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Notch signaling is a form of cell-to-cell communication, in which extracellular receptor-ligand interactions ultimately result in changes in gene expression. The Notch pathway is highly conserved from the model organism Drosophila melanogaster to humans, and mutations that affect Notch pathway components can lead to human disease, such as certain types of cancers and birth defects. The transcription factor CSL regulates gene expression in response to Notch pathway signaling. Yuan et al. now present the X-ray structure of the complex between the fruit fly version of CSL (Suppressor of Hairless), and its antagonist, Hairless, revealing a novel binding mode and unanticipated structural plasticity. In this image, CSL is represented as a gray surface with the residues that contact Hairless colored orange; Hairless is colored yellow, and the DNA of the target gene is colored purple and pink.
Image Credit: 10.1371/journal.pbio.1002509.g002