Nucleotide compositional constraints on genomes generate alanine-, glycine-, and proline-rich structures in transcription factors.

Correlation between amino acid composition and nucleotide composition is examined. Class III POU transcription factors having higher third GC contents showed higher contents of alanine, glycine, and proline residues encoded by GC-rich nucleotides, and vice versa. This correlation was observed even among various types of transcription factors from vertebrates and invertebrates regardless of functional and structural constraints inherent to each protein. Furthermore, reptile class III POU sequences revealed no evolutionary directionality increasing the GC contents from cold- to warm-blooded vertebrates.