STRUCTURE OF THE AMINO-TERMINAL PROTEIN-INTERACTION DOMAIN OF STAT-4

STATs (signal transducers and activators of transcription) are a famil y of transcription factors that are specifically activated to regulate gene transcription when cells encounter cytokines and growth factors, The crystal structure of an NH2-terminal conserved domain (N-domain) comprising the first 123 residues of STAT-4 was determined at 1.45 ang stroms, The domain consists of eight helices that are assembled into a hook-like structure, The N-domain has been implicated in several prot ein-protein interactions affecting transcription, and it enables dimer ized STAT molecules to polymerize and to bind DNA cooperatively, The s tructure shows that N-domains can interact through an extensive interf ace formed by polar interactions across one face of the hook. Mutagene sis of an invariant tryptophan residue at the heart of this interface abolished cooperative DNA binding by the full-length protein in vitro and reduced the transcriptional response after cytokine stimulation in vivo.