Specific interaction of plant HMG-like proteins with cruciform DNA

Proteins which, on the basis of their solubility in 0.35% NaCl-2% TCA and of their electrophoretic mobility, correspond to animal HMG 1/2 family were isolated from nuclei of ungerminated pea embryos. These proteins ound with a high degree of specificity to synthetic cruciform DNA produced by annealing chemically synthesized oligonucleotides. Hence, specific binding to four-way junction DNA, previously reported for animal HMG 1 and 2 proteins proved also to be a property of plant HMG 1/2 family, in spite of their low homology to the animal ones.