DNA-protein interactions are extremely important in biology. For example, each human cell contains about 2 meters of DNA, but this is packaged into a space about 1 million times smaller. The information in this DNA allows the cell to copy itself. This extreme packaging is mainly accomplished in cells by wrapping the DNA around proteins. Thus, how DNA and proteins interact is of extreme interest to scientists trying to understand how biology organizes itself. New research by scientists at the Earth-Life Science Institute (ELSI) at Tokyo Institute of Technology and the Institut Pierre-Gilles de Gennes, ESPCI Paris, Université PSL suggests that the interactions of DNA and proteins have deep-seated propensities to form higher-ordered structures such as those that allow the extreme packaging of DNA in cells.
Click here for original story, DNA-peptide interactions create complex behaviours which may have shaped biology
Source: Phys.org