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. 1983 Jan 25;11(2):501–513. doi: 10.1093/nar/11.2.501

Does the specific recognition of DNA by the restriction endonuclease EcoRI involve a linear diffusion step? Investigation of the processivity of the EcoRI endonuclease.

J Langowski, J Alves, A Pingoud, G Maass
PMCID: PMC325729  PMID: 6298727

Abstract

The time course of the EcoRI endonuclease catalysed cleavage of three substrates, two plasmid DNAs and one oligonucleotide, each with two EcoRI sites, was measured. The two plasmid DNAs with the EcoRI sites 318 and 96 base pairs apart are cut in a distributive fashion, while the oligonucleotide with the EcoRI sites 8 base pairs apart is cut in a partially processive manner. It is concluded that a linear diffusion of the EcoRI endonuclease on its substrate across long stretches of DNA is not likely to be operative during the recognition process. Microscopic dissociation-reassociation processes, however, increase the probability of the enzyme to attack further sites located in the immediate vicinity of a given site.

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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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