A retrovirus-like zinc domain is essential for translational repression of bacteriophage T4 gene 32.

Gene 32 protein (gp32), a single-stranded DNA-binding protein from bacteriophage T4, contains a zinc-binding subdomain with sequence homologies to the 3-cysteine/1-histidine zinc-binding motif found in a variety of retroviruses and plant viruses. In vitro studies suggest that autoregulation of gp32 occurs at the level of translation by gp32 specifically binding gene 32 mRNA at an unusual stem-loop structure that can be modeled as an RNA pseudoknot. Nucleation of gp32 binding via this pseudoknot is thought to be needed to facilitate cooperative binding of gp32 through a largely unstructured region that overlaps the ribosome binding site (McPheeters, D. S., Stormo, G. D., and Gold, L. (1988) J. Mol. Biol. 201, 517-535). Removal of Zn(II) from gp32 results in a protein that retains the ability to bind single-stranded RNA with high affinity but is unable to specifically autoregulate itself at the level of translation. Deletion of the pseudoknot sequences from the gene 32 autoregulatory region results in an mRNA that cannot be repressed by gp32. These results suggest that the zinc-binding subdomain of gp32 plays an essential role in autoregulation by providing a critical element necessary for nucleating cooperative binding at the gene 32 mRNA pseudoknot.