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. 1988 Aug;85(16):5844–5848. doi: 10.1073/pnas.85.16.5844

A knotted free minicircle in kinetoplast DNA.

K A Ryan 1, T A Shapiro 1, C A Rauch 1, J D Griffith 1, P T Englund 1
PMCID: PMC281861  PMID: 2842751

Abstract

Kinetoplast DNA, the mitochondrial DNA of trypanosomes, is a network containing thousands of minicircles that are topologically interlocked. The minicircle replication intermediates are free molecules that have been released from the network. We report here that one form of free minicircles is a trefoil knot. Identification of this knotted structure is based on its electrophoretic and sedimentation properties, its response to treatments with restriction enzymes or topoisomerase II, and its appearance by electron microscopy. Except for its topology, the knotted minicircle closely resembles a previously described replication intermediate with a unique gap in the newly synthesized L strand.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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