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. 1990 Feb 25;18(4):895–900. doi: 10.1093/nar/18.4.895

TcA, the putative transposase of the C. elegans Tc1 transposon, has an N-terminal DNA binding domain.

R F Schukkink 1, R H Plasterk 1
PMCID: PMC330343  PMID: 2156234

Abstract

Tc1 is a transposon present in several copies in the genome of all natural isolates of the nematode C.elegans; it is actively transposing in many strains. In those strains Tc1 insertion is the main cause of spontaneous mutations. The transposon contains one large ORF that we call TcA; we assume that the TcA protein is the transposase of Tc1. We expressed TcA in E.coli, purified the protein and showed that it has a strong affinity for DNA (both single stranded and double stranded). A fusion protein of beta-galactosidase and TcA also exhibits DNA binding; deletion derivatives of this fusion protein were tested for DNA binding. A deletion of 39 amino acids at the N-terminal region of TcA abolishes the DNA binding, whereas a deletion of 108 C-terminal amino acids does not affect DNA binding. This shows that the DNA binding domain of TcA is near the N-terminal region. The DNA binding capacity of TcA supports the assumption that TcA is a transposase of Tc1.

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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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