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. 1994 Nov 22;91(24):11462–11466. doi: 10.1073/pnas.91.24.11462

Domains of Escherichia coli primase: functional activity of a 47-kDa N-terminal proteolytic fragment.

W Sun 1, J Tormo 1, T A Steitz 1, G N Godson 1
PMCID: PMC45251  PMID: 7526396

Abstract

Endoproteinase Asp-N cleaves the 581-amino acid Escherichia coli primase (65,564 Da) into several major fragments. One of these, a 47-kDa fragment containing the complete N terminus and the first 422 amino acids of primase, is capable of primer RNA (pRNA) synthesis in the G4oric/single-stranded DNA binding protein/primase pRNA synthesis system. A cloned 398-amino acid N-terminal fragment of primase can also synthesize pRNA. The sizes of the pRNA synthesized by these N-terminal fragments, however, are smaller than those synthesized by intact primase, suggesting that the C-terminal region of primase plays a role in processivity or regulation of pRNA synthesis. Primase mutants with the last 10 and 40 C-terminal amino acids deleted synthesize pRNA as wild-type primase, indicating that any regulatory sequences must be internal to the C terminus of primase.

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Selected References

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