Homeodomain interactions

Homeodomain proteins play key roles in development and gene regulation in eukaryotes. Past structural studies have focused on the binding of monomeric homeodomains to DNA, but two recent structures have revealed how homeodomains bind DNA as multimers. The structures of the Drosophila Paired homodimer and the yeast a1/alpha2 heterodimer bound to DNA, along with a high-resolution study of a Drosophila eve-DNA complex, have deepened our understanding of how homeodomains locate their DNA targets.