Single-strand binding protein

Single strand binding proteins (SSB) are proteins that bind to DNA to facilitate replication in improving annealing ( process annealing a primer to the DNA sequences). They occur in all living things except Thermoproteales.

Properties

Viral SSB ( including the SSB of bacteriophage ) are mostly monomers. Bacterial SSB often tetramers of four identical subunits (both 19 kDa). SSB in eukaryotes are found in the nucleus and are trimers of three different units. In particular, are known in humans:

  • Mitochondrielles SSB ( UniProt Q04837 )
  • SSB -2 ( UniProt P81877 )
  • SSB -3 ( UniProt Q9BWW4 )

The SSB bind specifically to single-stranded DNA (single stranded DNA = ss - DNA). Here, a range of about 60 nucleotides is covered. The binding is cooperative.

DNA-binding protein Organism Digital Object Identifier
299540
de