Molecular Interactions of Proteins and DNA: An Intensive Lecture/Laboratory Course (2003)

Summary: The Academies organized an intensive course on the Molecular Interactions of Proteins and DNA at the Institute of Biotechnology in Vilnius, Lithuania, from 25 August through 6 September 2003. Through a series of lectures and laboratory exercises, an international faculty presented the principles of and current and emerging experimental approaches to studying protein-DNA interactions. Topics covered included overviews of the chemical, biophysical, and thermody-namic foundations of protein-DNA interactions and of the criteria for successful experimental characterizations of the process. Practical exercises demonstrated purifying and assaying proteins, labeling DNA, characterizing protein-DNA interactions through electrophoretic mobility shift, footprinting, fluorescence, cross-linking, steady state and transient kinetics, and calorimetric techniques. Emphasis was placed on data acquisition and analysis. Accompanying lectures were planned to present theoretical bases for the topics demonstrated as well as describing emerging and complementary technologies, for example, mass spectrometry techniques, bioinformatic approaches, and X-ray and NMR structural determinations.