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The Cox protein from bacteriophage P2 is a small multifunctional DNA-binding protein. It is involved in site-specific recombination leading to P2 prophage excision and functions as a transcriptional repressor of the P2 Pc promoter. Furthermore, it transcriptionally activates the unrelated, defective prophage P4 that depends on phage P2 late gene products for lytic growth. In this article, we have investigated the structural determinants to understand how P2 Cox performs these different functions. We have solved the structure of P2 Cox to 2.4 Å resolution. Interestingly, P2 Cox crystallized in a continuous oligomeric spiral with its DNA-binding helix and wing positioned outwards. The extended C-terminal part of P2 Cox is largely responsible for the oligomerization in the structure. The spacing between the repeating DNA-binding elements along the helical P2 Cox filament is consistent with DNA binding along the filament. Functional analyses of alanine mutants in P2 Cox argue for the importance of key residues for protein function. We here present the first structure from the Cox protein family and, together with previous biochemical observations, propose that P2 Cox achieves its various functions by specific binding of DNA while wrapping the DNA around its helical oligomer.

As opposed to the vast majority of prokaryotic repressors, the immunity repressor of temperate Escherichia coli phage P2 (C) recognizes non-palindromic direct repeats of DNA rather than inverted repeats. We have determined the crystal structure of P2 C at 1.8 Å. This constitutes the first structure solved from the family of C proteins from P2-like bacteriophages. The structure reveals that the P2 C protein forms a symmetric dimer oriented to bind the major groove of two consecutive turns of the DNA. Surprisingly, P2 C has great similarities to binders of palindromic sequences. Nevertheless, the two identical DNA-binding helixes of the symmetric P2 C dimer have to bind different DNA sequences. Helix 3 is identified as the DNA-recognition motif in P2 C by alanine scanning and the importance for the individual residues in DNA recognition is defined. A truncation mutant shows that the disordered C-terminus is dispensable for repressor function. The short distance between the DNA-binding helices together with a possible interaction between two P2 C dimers are proposed to be responsible for extensive bending of the DNA. The structure provides insight into the mechanisms behind the mutants of P2 C causing dimer disruption, temperature sensitivity and insensitivity to the P4 antirepressor.

This note presents the (1)H, (13)C, and (15)N resonances assignment of the 22 kDa, dimeric, C-repressor protein from the P2 bacteriophage. The C-repressor controls the genetic switch that determines if the temperate P2 phage should exist in the lytic or lysogenic lifemode.