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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
. 1977 Jul;74(7):2687–2691. doi: 10.1073/pnas.74.7.2687

A site-specific single-strand endonuclease from the eukaryote Chlamydomonas.

W G Burton, R J Roberts, P A Myers, R Sager
PMCID: PMC431246  PMID: 268618

Abstract

We have found a unique deoxyribonuclease in extracts of the eukaryotic green alga Chlamydomonas. When incubated with viral DNA from adenovirus-2, this enzyme produces discrete fragments that form bands upon electrophoresis in an agarose gel. Site specificity of the enzymatic cleavage examined by identifying the 5'-terminal nucleotides in cleaved adenovirus-2 DNA and by studies with synthetic polynucleotides of defined sequence, indicates that the initial endonucleolytic cleavage occurs at a site containing a deoxythymidine residue. Electron microscopy of cleaved adenovirus-2 DNA revealed single-strand segments within duplex DNA. We propose that the enzyme acts by making initial site-specific single-strand incisions, followed by subsequent excision on the same strand, producing a gapped duplex molecule; and that double-strand scissions result from limited occurrence of overlapping single-strand gaps on complementary strands.

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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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