Answer1
From 2006.igem.org
- Heat Unstable Nucleoid Protein
- HU stimulates trascription using lambda phage template
- It is made of 2 subunits: HU alpha and HU beta
- It is an abundant non-specific DNA binding protein which is highly conserved between prokaryotes
- About 30,000 to 55,000 HU molecules per cell exist in the exponentially growing cells of E. coli W3110. Indicating that HU, together with Fis, forms a major nucleoid component in the growing E. coli cell
- Considered prokaryotic homolog of eukaryotic histones which restrains DNA supercoils in the nucleoid
- Certain fraction of HU is associated with ribosomes
- At saturation, HU dimers may be associated, on average, every 300 to 400 bp of the E. coli genome
- Upon entry into the stationary phase, the HU level started to decrease gradually, decreasing to less than one-third of the maximum level in the late stationary phase