KIX domain
In biochemistry, the KIX domain (kinase-inducible domain (KID) interacting domain) or CREB binding domain is a protein domain of the eukaryotic transcriptional coactivators CBP and P300. It serves as a docking site for the formation of heterodimers between the coactivator and specific transcription factors. Structurally, the KIX domain is a globular domain consisting of three α-helices and two short 310-helices. The KIX domain was originally discovered in 1996 as the specific and minimal region in CBP that binds and interacts with phosphorylated CREB to activate transcription. It was thus first termed CREB-binding domain. However, when it was later discovered that it also binds many other proteins, the more general name KIX domain became favoured. The KIX domain contains two separate binding sites: the "c-Myb site", named after the oncoprotein c-Myb, and the "MLL site", named after the proto-oncogene MLL (Mixed Lineage Leukemia, KMT2A). The paralogous coactivators CBP (CREBBP) and P300 (EP300) are recruited to DNA-bound transcription factors to activate transcription. Coactivators can associate with promoters and enhancers in the DNA only indirectly through protein-protein contacts with transcription factors. CBP and P300 activate transcription synergistically in two ways: first, by remodelling and relaxing chromatin through their intrinsic histone acetyltransferase activity, and