Unknown

Dataset Information

0

Solitary restriction endonucleases in prokaryotic genomes.


ABSTRACT: Prokaryotic restriction-modification (R-M) systems defend the host cell from the invasion of a foreign DNA. They comprise two enzymatic activities: specific DNA cleavage activity and DNA methylation activity preventing cleavage. Typically, these activities are provided by two separate enzymes: a DNA methyltransferase (MTase) and a restriction endonuclease (RE). In the absence of a corresponding MTase, an RE of Type II R-M system is highly toxic for the cell. Genes of the R-M system are linked in the genome in the vast majority of annotated cases. There are only a few reported cases in which the genes of MTase and RE from one R-M system are not linked. Nevertheless, a few hundreds solitary RE genes are present in the Restriction Enzyme Database (http://rebase.neb.com) annotations. Using the comparative genomic approach, we analysed 272 solitary RE genes. For 57 solitary RE genes we predicted corresponding MTase genes located distantly in a genome. Of the 272 solitary RE genes, 99 are likely to be fragments of RE genes. Various explanations for the existence of the remaining 116 solitary RE genes are also discussed.

SUBMITTER: Ershova AS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3488263 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

altmetric image

Publications

Solitary restriction endonucleases in prokaryotic genomes.

Ershova Anna S AS   Karyagina Anna S AS   Vasiliev Mikhail O MO   Lyashchuk Alexander M AM   Lunin Vladimir G VG   Spirin Sergey A SA   Alexeevski Andrei V AV  

Nucleic acids research 20120910 20


Prokaryotic restriction-modification (R-M) systems defend the host cell from the invasion of a foreign DNA. They comprise two enzymatic activities: specific DNA cleavage activity and DNA methylation activity preventing cleavage. Typically, these activities are provided by two separate enzymes: a DNA methyltransferase (MTase) and a restriction endonuclease (RE). In the absence of a corresponding MTase, an RE of Type II R-M system is highly toxic for the cell. Genes of the R-M system are linked in  ...[more]

Similar Datasets

| S-EPMC4699840 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC3675476 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC1920265 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC2691833 | biostudies-other
| S-EPMC55916 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC4184833 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC3258161 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC3627594 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC4081073 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC1186633 | biostudies-other