Lac repressor binding to synthetic DNAs of defined nucleotide sequence.

Binding of lac repressor to 20 synthetic DNAs of high molecular weight with defined repeating sequences was investigated by competition experiments. Although none of these DNAs binds repressor as tightly as does lac operator, most do bind to a measurable extent. Their affinity for repressor varies greatly and is a function of both nucleotide composition and sequence. Poly(dC-dC).poly(dG-dC) competes for repressor 200-times less well than either poly(dA-dT).poly(dA-dT) or poly(dT-dT-dG).poly(dC-dA-dA). The other DNAs show a broad spectrum of affinities for repressor between these extremes. These results show that the lac repressor has affinity for, and can distinguish between, sequences distantly related to its operator.