Skip to main content
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1989 Apr;86(8):2627–2631. doi: 10.1073/pnas.86.8.2627

Identification and purification of a single-stranded-DNA-specific exonuclease encoded by the recJ gene of Escherichia coli.

S T Lovett 1, R D Kolodner 1
PMCID: PMC286970  PMID: 2649886

Abstract

The Escherichia coli recJ gene product was overproduced using a plasmid that carries the recJ gene downstream of a strong regulatable promoter and a strong ribosome-binding site. Overexpression of recJ produced a concomitant increase in the levels of single-stranded-DNA-specific nuclease activity present in crude cell extracts. This nuclease activity was purified to homogeneity and found to reside in a 60-kDa polypeptide. This polypeptide was induced with recJ overexpression and had the size and N-terminal amino acid sequence identical to the predicted RecJ protein sequence. The RecJ nuclease degraded linear single-stranded DNA but did not have exonuclease activity on linear double-stranded substrates or endonuclease activity on either single-stranded or double-stranded substrates. The RecJ exonuclease had greater activity on duplex DNA molecules with 5'-rather than 3'-single-stranded tails.

Full text

PDF
2629

Images in this article

Selected References

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

  1. Amundsen S. K., Taylor A. F., Chaudhury A. M., Smith G. R. recD: the gene for an essential third subunit of exonuclease V. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1986 Aug;83(15):5558–5562. doi: 10.1073/pnas.83.15.5558. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Barbour S. D., Nagaishi H., Templin A., Clark A. J. Biochemical and genetic studies of recombination proficiency in Escherichia coli. II. Rec+ revertants caused by indirect suppression of rec- mutations. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1970 Sep;67(1):128–135. doi: 10.1073/pnas.67.1.128. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Bradford M. M. A rapid and sensitive method for the quantitation of microgram quantities of protein utilizing the principle of protein-dye binding. Anal Biochem. 1976 May 7;72:248–254. doi: 10.1006/abio.1976.9999. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Chase J. W., Richardson C. C. Exonuclease VII of Escherichia coli. Purification and properties. J Biol Chem. 1974 Jul 25;249(14):4545–4552. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Chaudhury A. M., Smith G. R. A new class of Escherichia coli recBC mutants: implications for the role of RecBC enzyme in homologous recombination. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1984 Dec;81(24):7850–7854. doi: 10.1073/pnas.81.24.7850. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Cox M. M., Lehman I. R. Directionality and polarity in recA protein-promoted branch migration. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1981 Oct;78(10):6018–6022. doi: 10.1073/pnas.78.10.6018. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Freifelder D., Dewitt R. Thermal hydrolysis as a means of opening supercoiled circles of DNA. Gene. 1977 Jul;1(5-6):385–387. doi: 10.1016/0378-1119(77)90042-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Hinkle D. C., Chamberlin M. J. Studies of the binding of Escherichia coli RNA polymerase to DNA. I. The role of sigma subunit in site selection. J Mol Biol. 1972 Sep 28;70(2):157–185. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(72)90531-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Horii Z., Clark A. J. Genetic analysis of the recF pathway to genetic recombination in Escherichia coli K12: isolation and characterization of mutants. J Mol Biol. 1973 Oct 25;80(2):327–344. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(73)90176-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Joseph J. W., Kolodner R. Exonuclease VIII of Escherichia coli. II. Mechanism of action. J Biol Chem. 1983 Sep 10;258(17):10418–10424. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Kahn R., Cunningham R. P., DasGupta C., Radding C. M. Polarity of heteroduplex formation promoted by Escherichia coli recA protein. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1981 Aug;78(8):4786–4790. doi: 10.1073/pnas.78.8.4786. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Kolodner R., Evans D. H., Morrison P. T. Purification and characterization of an activity from Saccharomyces cerevisiae that catalyzes homologous pairing and strand exchange. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1987 Aug;84(16):5560–5564. doi: 10.1073/pnas.84.16.5560. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Kolodner R., Fishel R. A., Howard M. Genetic recombination of bacterial plasmid DNA: effect of RecF pathway mutations on plasmid recombination in Escherichia coli. J Bacteriol. 1985 Sep;163(3):1060–1066. doi: 10.1128/jb.163.3.1060-1066.1985. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Kushner S. R., Nagaishi H., Clark A. J. Indirect suppression of recB and recC mutations by exonuclease I deficiency. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1972 Jun;69(6):1366–1370. doi: 10.1073/pnas.69.6.1366. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Kushner S. R., Nagaishi H., Clark A. J. Isolation of exonuclease VIII: the enzyme associated with sbcA indirect suppressor. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1974 Sep;71(9):3593–3597. doi: 10.1073/pnas.71.9.3593. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Kushner S. R., Nagaishi H., Templin A., Clark A. J. Genetic recombination in Escherichia coli: the role of exonuclease I. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1971 Apr;68(4):824–827. doi: 10.1073/pnas.68.4.824. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. LEHMAN I. R., NUSSBAUM A. L. THE DEOXYRIBONUCLEASES OF ESCHERICHIA COLI. V. ON THE SPECIFICITY OF EXONUCLEASE I (PHOSPHODIESTERASE). J Biol Chem. 1964 Aug;239:2628–2636. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Laemmli U. K. Cleavage of structural proteins during the assembly of the head of bacteriophage T4. Nature. 1970 Aug 15;227(5259):680–685. doi: 10.1038/227680a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Lloyd R. G., Benson F. E., Shurvinton C. E. Effect of ruv mutations on recombination and DNA repair in Escherichia coli K12. Mol Gen Genet. 1984;194(1-2):303–309. doi: 10.1007/BF00383532. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Lloyd R. G., Picksley S. M., Prescott C. Inducible expression of a gene specific to the RecF pathway for recombination in Escherichia coli K12. Mol Gen Genet. 1983;190(1):162–167. doi: 10.1007/BF00330340. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Lovett S. T., Clark A. J. Cloning of the Escherichia coli recJ chromosomal region and identification of its encoded proteins. J Bacteriol. 1985 Apr;162(1):280–285. doi: 10.1128/jb.162.1.280-285.1985. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Lovett S. T., Clark A. J. Genetic analysis of the recJ gene of Escherichia coli K-12. J Bacteriol. 1984 Jan;157(1):190–196. doi: 10.1128/jb.157.1.190-196.1984. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Lovett S. T., Luisi-DeLuca C., Kolodner R. D. The genetic dependence of recombination in recD mutants of Escherichia coli. Genetics. 1988 Sep;120(1):37–45. doi: 10.1093/genetics/120.1.37. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Messing J. New M13 vectors for cloning. Methods Enzymol. 1983;101:20–78. doi: 10.1016/0076-6879(83)01005-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Nakayama H., Nakayama K., Nakayama R., Irino N., Nakayama Y., Hanawalt P. C. Isolation and genetic characterization of a thymineless death-resistant mutant of Escherichia coli K12: identification of a new mutation (recQ1) that blocks the RecF recombination pathway. Mol Gen Genet. 1984;195(3):474–480. doi: 10.1007/BF00341449. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Rogers S. G., Weiss B. Exonuclease III of Escherichia coli K-12, an AP endonuclease. Methods Enzymol. 1980;65(1):201–211. doi: 10.1016/s0076-6879(80)65028-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. Sancar A., Wharton R. P., Seltzer S., Kacinski B. M., Clarke N. D., Rupp W. D. Identification of the uvrA gene product. J Mol Biol. 1981 May 5;148(1):45–62. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(81)90234-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  28. Smith G. R. Homologous recombination in procaryotes. Microbiol Rev. 1988 Mar;52(1):1–28. doi: 10.1128/mr.52.1.1-28.1988. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  29. Tabor S., Richardson C. C. A bacteriophage T7 RNA polymerase/promoter system for controlled exclusive expression of specific genes. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1985 Feb;82(4):1074–1078. doi: 10.1073/pnas.82.4.1074. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America are provided here courtesy of National Academy of Sciences

RESOURCES