In molecular biology the DM domain is a protein

domain A domain is a geographic area controlled by a single person or organization. Domain may also refer to: Law and human geography * Demesne, in English common law and other Medieval European contexts, lands directly managed by their holder rather ...

first discovered in the

doublesex ''Doublesex'' (''dsx'') is a gene that is involved in the sex determination system of many insects including the fruit fly ''Drosophila melanogaster''. Sex determination The gene is expressed in both male and female flies and is subject to al ...

proteins of ''

Drosophila melanogaster ''Drosophila melanogaster'' is a species of fly (an insect of the Order (biology), order Diptera) in the family Drosophilidae. The species is often referred to as the fruit fly or lesser fruit fly, or less commonly the "vinegar fly", "pomace fly" ...

'' and is also seen in ''C. elegans'' and mammalian proteins. In ''D. melanogaster'' the doublesex

gene In biology, the word gene has two meanings. The Mendelian gene is a basic unit of heredity. The molecular gene is a sequence of nucleotides in DNA that is transcribed to produce a functional RNA. There are two types of molecular genes: protei ...

controls somatic sexual differentiation by producing

alternatively spliced Alternative splicing, alternative RNA splicing, or differential splicing, is an alternative RNA splicing, splicing process during gene expression that allows a single gene to produce different splice variants. For example, some exons of a gene ma ...

mRNAs encoding related sex-specific

polypeptides Peptides are short chains of amino acids linked by peptide bonds. A polypeptide is a longer, continuous, unbranched peptide chain. Polypeptides that have a molecular mass of 10,000 Da or more are called proteins. Chains of fewer than twenty ami ...

. These

proteins Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, re ...

are believed to function as transcription factors on downstream sex-determination genes, especially on neuroblast differentiation and yolk protein

genes In biology, the word gene has two meanings. The Mendelian gene is a basic unit of heredity. The molecular gene is a sequence of nucleotides in DNA that is transcribed to produce a functional RNA. There are two types of molecular genes: protei ...

transcription. The DM domain

bind BIND () is a suite of software for interacting with the Domain Name System (DNS). Its most prominent component, named (pronounced ''name-dee'': , short for ''name Daemon (computing), daemon''), performs both of the main DNS server roles, acting ...

s DNA as a dimer, allowing the recognition of pseudopalindromic

sequence In mathematics, a sequence is an enumerated collection of objects in which repetitions are allowed and order matters. Like a set, it contains members (also called ''elements'', or ''terms''). The number of elements (possibly infinite) is cal ...

s . The NMR analysis of the DSX DM domain revealed a novel

zinc Zinc is a chemical element; it has symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodic tabl ...

module containing 'intertwined' CCHC and HCCC zinc-binding sites. The recognition of the DNA requires the carboxy-terminal basic tail which contacts the minor groove of the target

Proteins with this domain

Proteins with the DM domain are found in many model organisms. Many '' C. elegans'' Mab proteins contain this domain, the best-known one being mab-3. Human proteins containing this domain include

DMRT1 Doublesex and mab-3 related transcription factor 1, also known as DMRT1, is a protein which in humans is encoded by the ''DMRT1'' gene. Function DMRT1 is a dose sensitive transcription factor protein that regulates Sertoli cells and germ cell ...

, DMRT2, DMRT3, DMRTA1, DMRTA2, DMRTB1, and DMRTC2; each of these have a

mouse A mouse (: mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus'' ...

homolog. DMRT1 homologs have an additional common domain C-terminal to the DM domain. This domain is only found in bony vertebrates, and neither its structure nor function is unknown. Jpred predicts the human version of the section to be mostly coils; it also suggests a weak similarity to by BLAST. DMRTA proteins have an additional motif in their C-termina. This motif, ubiquitous in eukaryotes, has an unknown function. It is similar in sequence to some

ubiquitin Ubiquitin is a small (8.6 kDa) regulatory protein found in most tissues of eukaryotic organisms, i.e., it is found ''ubiquitously''. It was discovered in 1975 by Gideon Goldstein and further characterized throughout the late 1970s and 19 ...

-associated motifs.

References

{{InterPro content, IPR001275 Protein families Protein domains