Abstract
DURING a systematic survey of the substrate specificities of a variety of restriction endonucleases, it was discovered that the Haemophilus aegyptius restriction endonuclease III (HaeIII) specifically cleaved ‘single-stranded’ DNA from φX174 and M13. Since these DNAs are not double-stranded1 and restriction enzymes recognise duplex DNA with twofold sequence symmetry2, this result was unexpected. This finding is significant with regard to the conformation of single-stranded viral DNA as well as the biochemical mechanism and physiological role of restriction enzymes.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Wittmann, H. G., and Scholtissek, C., A. Rev. Biochem., 35, 299–334 (1966).
Boyer, H. W., Fedn Proc., 33, 1125–1127 (1974).
Middleton, J. H., Edgell, M. H., and Hutchison, C. A., III, J. Virol., 10, 42–50 (1972).
Lee, A. S., and Sinsheimer, R. L., Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 71, 2882–2886 (1974).
Van den Hondel, C. A., and Schoenmakers, J. G. G., Eur. J. Biochem., 53, 547–558 (1975).
Fiers, W., and Sinsheimer, R. L., J. molec. Biol., 5, 424–434 (1962).
Forsheit, A. B., and Ray, D. S., Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 67, 1534–1541 (1970).
Benbow, R. M., Hutchison, C. A., III, Fabricant, J. D., and Sinsheimer, R. L., J. Virol., 7, 549–558 (1971).
Greene, P. J., et al., J. molec. Biol., (in the press).
Harwood, S. J., Schendel, P. F., and Wells, R. D., J. biol. Chem., 245, 5614–5624 (1970).
Roberts, R. J., Breitmeyer, J. B., Tabachnik, N. F., and Myers, P. A., J. molec. Biol., 91, 121–123 (1975).
Peacock, A. C., and Dingman, C. W., Biochemistry, 7, 668–674 (1968).
Maniatis, T., Jeffrey, A., and van deSande, H., Biochemistry, 14, 3787–3794 (1975).
Dahlberg, A. E., Dingman, C. W., and Peacock, A. C., J. molec. Biol., 41, 139–147 (1969).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
BLAKESLEY, R., WELLS, R. ‘Single-stranded’ DNA from φX174 and M13 is cleaved by certain restriction endonucleases. Nature 257, 421–422 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1038/257421a0
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/257421a0
This article is cited by
-
Restriction endonucleases in the study of eukaryotic chromosomes
Genetica (1991)
-
Nucleotide sequence of cassava latent virus DNA
Nature (1983)
-
Evidence for a divided genome in bean golden mosaic virus, a geminivirus
Nature (1981)
-
Restriction and modification in B. subtilis
Molecular and General Genetics MGG (1980)
-
N-Independent leftward transcription in coliphage lambda: Deletions, insertions and new promoters bypassing termination functions
Molecular and General Genetics MGG (1979)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.
