An alternative approach for screening active bam HI variants: overexpression in T-7 RNA polymerase based system.

The type II restriction endonuclease, Bam HI, has been overexpressed in E. coli by cloning the Bam HI gene in frame with an E. coli Ribosome Binding Site (RBS) under the T7 promoter of an E. coli expression vector pRSET A. The expression level of Bam HI endonuclease using this construct was found to be higher than that reported of the overexpressing clone pAEK14. Our overexpressing clone, pAABRw in BL21 cells in presence of Bam HI methylase in pMAP6 following induction with IPTG yields about 9.2 x 10(6) units per gram wet cell paste. In vivo activity of the recombinant endonuclease could be confirmed by the SOS induction assay in JH139 cells even in the absence of T7 polymerase and cognate Bam HI methylase because of leaky expression in E. coli. This provides an alternate way to screen the active endonuclease and its variants.

Crystallization of restriction endonuclease BamHI with nonspecific DNA.

Restriction endonucleases show extraordinary specificity in distinguishing specific from nonspecific DNA sequences. A single basepair change within the recognition sequence results in over a million-fold loss in activity. To understand the basis of this sequence discrimination, it is just as important to study the nonspecific complex as the specific complex. We describe here the crystallization of restriction endonuclease BamHI with several nonspecific oligonucleotides. The 11-mer, 5'-ATGAATCCATA-3', yielded cocrystals with BamHI, in the presence of low salt, that diffracted to 1.9 A with synchrotron radiation. The cocrystals belong to the space group P2(1)2(1)2(1) with unit cell dimensions of a = 114.8 A, b = 91.1 A, c = 66.4 A, alpha = 90 degrees, beta = 90 degrees, gamma = 90 degrees. This success in the cocrystallization of BamHI with a nonspecific DNA provides insights for future attempts at crystallization of other nonspecific DNA-protein complexes.

Protein engineering of BamHI restriction endonuclease: replacement of Cys54 by Ala enhances catalytic activity.

Chemical modification studies of BamHI endonuclease indicated the importance of the cysteine residue in catalysis [Nath, K. (1981) Arch. Biochem. Biophys, 212, 611-617]. Of the three cysteine residues at positions 34, 54 and 64 in the BamHI endonuclease Cys54 and Cys64 are at the DNA-protein interface. The co-crystal structure of the BamHI-DNA complex, however, does not indicate any role of cysteines either in binding or catalysis. In the context of strong biochemical evidence, Cys54 in BamHI was changed to Ala54 to investigate its role in catalysis. The mutation was carried out by PCR overlap extension, the mutant gene was cloned and characterized by sequencing. The mutant BamHI was expressed and purified to homogeneity and the kinetic parameters (K(M) and kcat) of the wild type and the C54A mutant were determined. The mutation results in up to approximately 40% enhancement of kcat and some increase in K(M). These in vitro results were also supported by in vivo SOS induction assays: the C54A mutant gene under the T7 promoter caused complete lysis in JH139 in absence of T7 RNA polymerase whereas the wild-type gene gave deep blue colonies under the same conditions. The results suggest no direct role of Cys54 in catalysis, but it can influence the catalytic activity through Val57 backbone contact seen in the co-crystal structure.

[Isolation and specificity of novel restriction endonucleases Bsp40091 and AsiI, isoschizomers of BamHI]. / Vydelenie i opredelenie spetsifichnosti novykh éndonukleaz restriktsii Bsp40091 i AsiI izoshizomerov BamHI.

New type II restriction endonucleases AsiI and Bsp40091 are detected in Azotobacter species N55 and Bacillus species 4009, respectively. Purified preparations of the restriction enzymes free from interfering nucleases and phosphatases were obtained by column chromatography on phosphocellulose and heparin-sepharose (Asil) and phosphocellulose and DEAE-cellulose (Bsp40091). The yield of purified AsiI and Bsp40091 was 16 x 10(3) and 8 x 10(3) units per g of wet cells, respectively. The above restriction endonucleases recognize the 5'-G decreases GATCC-3' sequence on double-stranded DNA and cleave it as shown, thus being true isoschizomers of BamHI restriction endonuclease.

Thermophilic strain Bacillus species AA contains several site-specific endonucleases.

Thermophilic strain Bacillus species AA contains several site-specific endonucleases and three of them have been identified. BspAAI recognizes the sequence 5'-C downward arrow TCGAG-3' and cleaves it after the first "C" forming 4-nucleotide 5'-ends and is an isoschizomer of XhoI. BspAAII recognizes the sequence 5'-T downward arrow CTAGA-3' and cleaves it after the first "T" forming 4-nucleotide 5'-ends and is an isoschizomer of XbaI. BspAAIII recognizes the sequence 5'-GGATCC-3' and is an isomer of BamHI. The optimal temperature and pH values are 42-48 degreesC and 7.0-8.0, respectively.

Site-specific endonucleases RspLKI and RspLKII from Rhodococcus species LK2 are isoschizomers of SphI and BamHI.

Two site-specific endonucleases, RspLKI and RspLKII, have been isolated and purified to functional homogeneity from the soil bacterium Rhodococcus species LK2. RspLKI recognizes the 5'-GCATG decreases C-3' DNA sequence and RspLKII recognizes the 5'-G decreases GATCC-3' sequence (arrows indicate DNA cleavage sites). The isolated enzymes are class II site specific endonucleases and are isoschizomers of endonucleases SphI and BamHI, respectively.

Isolation of temperature-sensitive mutants of the BamHI restriction endonuclease.

Two heat-sensitive R.BamHI mutants, T157I and P173L, and one cold-sensitive R.BamHI mutant, T114I, were isolated after chemical mutagenesis of the bamhIR gene that codes for the restriction endonuclease BamHI (R.BamHI). The thermosensitivity of T114I, T157I and P173L is revealed by the 10(2)-10(3) lower plating efficiency at the non-permissive temperature of strains bearing these alleles. The conditional-lethal phenotype can be rescued by introduction of the cognate bamhIM gene into the same cell. The mutant enzymes induce the SOS response in vivo and display reduced phage restriction activity. The P173L protein, when expressed at 30 degrees C and purified, shows reduced thermostability at 65 degrees C. T157I and P173L mutants yield different intermediates during partial trypsin digestion. The conditional-lethal BamHI mutants could be used to deliver in vivo DNA cleavage and for further isolation of relaxed-specificity mutants.

Regulation of the BamHI restriction-modification system by a small intergenic open reading frame, bamHIC, in both Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis.

BamHI, from Bacillus amyloliquefaciens H, is a type II restriction-modification system recognizing and cleaving the sequence G--GATCC. The BamHI restriction-modification system contains divergently transcribed endonuclease and methylase genes along with a small open reading frame oriented in the direction of the endonuclease gene. The small open reading frame has been designated bamHIC (for BamHI controlling element). It acts as both a positive activator of endonuclease expression and a negative repressor of methylase expression of BamHI clones in Escherichia coli. Methylase activity increased 15-fold and endonuclease activity decreased 100-fold when bamHIC was inactivated. The normal levels of activity for both methylase and endonuclease were restored by supplying bamHIC in trans. The BamHI restriction-modification system was transferred into Bacillus subtilis, where bamHIC also regulated endonuclease expression when present on multicopy plasmid vectors or integrated into the chromosome. In B. subtilis, disruption of bamHIC caused at least a 1,000-fold decrease in endonuclease activity; activity was partially restored by supplying bamHIC in trans.

Isolation of a new restriction enzyme, ApaCI, an isoschizomer of BamHI produced by Acetobacter pasteurianus.

A new Type II restriction endonuclease ApaCI purified from Acetobacter pasteurianus is an isoschizomer of BamHI that cleaves at the nucleotide sequence 5'-G/GATCC-3' of double-stranded DNA. The single restriction activity present in this strain permits rapidly purified 30,000 units of cleavage activity from 10 g of freshly harvested cells. The resulting ApaCI preparation is free of contaminant nuclease activities that might interfere with in vitro manipulation of DNA.

Cofactor requirements of BamHI mutant endonuclease E77K and its suppressor mutants.

A mutant BamHI endonuclease, E77K, belongs to a class of catalytic mutants that bind DNA efficiently but cleave DNA at a rate more than 10(3)-fold lower than that of the wild-type enzyme (S. Y. Xu and I. Schildkraut, J. Biol. Chem. 266:4425-4429, 1991). The preferred cofactor for the wild-type BamHI is Mg2+. BamHI is 10-fold less active with Mn2+ as the cofactor. In contrast, the E77K variant displays an increased activity when Mn2+ is substituted for Mg2+ in the reaction buffer. Mutations that partially suppress the E77K mutation were isolated by using an Escherichia coli indicator strain containing the dinD::lacZ fusion. These pseudorevertant endonucleases induce E. coli SOS response (as evidenced by blue colony formation) and thus presumably nick or cleave chromosomal DNA in vivo. Consistent with the in vivo result, the pseudorevertant endonucleases in the crude cell extract display site-specific partial DNA cleavage activity. DNA sequencing revealed two unique suppressing mutations that were located within two amino acid residues of the original mutation. Both pseudorevertant proteins were purified and shown to increase specific activity at least 50-fold. Like the wild-type enzyme, both pseudorevertant endonucleases prefer Mg2+ as the cofactor. Thus, the second-site mutation not only restores partial cleavage activity but also suppresses the metal preference as well. These results suggest that the Glu-77 residue may play a role in metal ion binding or in enzyme activation (allosteric transition) following sequence-specific recognition.

Overexpression, purification and crystallization of BamHI endonuclease.

The type II restriction endonuclease BamHI has been expressed in E. coli, producing 100-fold more enzyme than the wild type Bacillus amyloliquefaciens H strain. This high yield has facilitated purification to homogeneity of large amounts of the enzyme, along with its crystallization in a form which diffracts to at least 1.9 A in X-ray analysis.

Affinity partitioning of restriction endonucleases. Application to the purification of EcoR I and EcoR V.

Partitioning of restriction endonucleases between two liquid aqueous phases can be strongly influenced by group-specific ligands included in the two-phase system. Three restriction endonucleases, namely EcoR I, EcoR V and BamH I, were partitioned within an aqueous dextran-polyethylene glycol (PEG) system. The enzymes could be extracted into the upper PEG phase by using either triazine dyes or herring DNA as affinity ligands. The influence of the endogenous bacterial nucleic acids, concentration of polymerbound dye and concentration of sodium chloride on the system were examined. A partial purification of EcoR I (up to 52-fold) and EcoR V (up to 37-fold) was achieved using a combination of affinity partitioning and ion-exchange chromatography, providing an extremely fast and economical method for the isolation of restriction endonucleases free from contaminating nuclease activities.

Sequence-specific endonucleases from the cyanobacterium Nostoc sp. ATCC 29132.

The nitrogen-fixing cyanobacterium Nostoc sp. ATCC 29132 was shown to contain two sequence-specific endonucleases. Nsp(29132) I was an isoschizomer of AsuII, and Nsp(29132) II was an isoschizomer of BamHI. Nsp(29132) II was shown to generate ends that could be ligated to those generated by BamHI.

DNA structural polymorphism modulates the kinetics of superhelical DNA cleavage by BamHI restriction endonuclease.

A compartmental model developed by Hensley (Hensley, P., Nardone, G., Chirikjian, J.G., and Wastney, M. E., (1990) J. Biol. Chem. 265, 15300-15307) for analysis of the time courses of the cleavage of superhelical DNA substrates by the restriction endonuclease, BamHI, has been used to quantify the effects of changes in temperature, ionic strength, superhelical density, and the DNA substrate on the binding and strand cleavage processes. Studies reported here indicate that changes in topology may be introduced into the DNA substrate solely as a result of the plasmid preparation process and in the absence of covalent bond cleavage and ligation. These changes in topology have qualitatively different effects on the kinetics than those promoted by changes in the superhelical density. The former are removed by briefly warming the DNA prior to assay, suggesting that they are only kinetically stable, while the latter changes are not affected by heating. Increasing the [NaCl] from 0.01 M to 0.1 M increases the overall rate of plasmid cleavage by increasing both the rates of cleavage and enzyme DNA association. To describe the decrease in the overall cleavage rate observed in 0.15 M NaCl, an ionic strength-dependent rate-determining structural transition in the DNA substrate was incorporated into the model. The largest changes in the rate of the cleavage process resulted from changes in the DNA substrate. For the SV40 substrate compared to pBR322, the rate constants describing the two association processes and the first bond cleavage event were increased 6- to 7-fold. The rate of the second bond cleavage process was not affected. These changes may be due to differences in the flanking sequences.

A new isoschizomer, BnaI, of the BamHI restriction endonuclease.

By assaying the yield of phage SPO1 we have identified a new restriction-modification activity in the Bacillus natto B3364 strain. A class II restriction endonuclease, BnaI, isolated from the crude extract of B3364 cells was shown to be a true isoschizomer of the BamHI endonuclease. The Mr, stability and optimal conditions required for DNA digestion were determined for BnaI. Although both enzymes show the same specificity, BnaI and BamHI differ from each other in all the properties specified above.

Cloning the BamHI restriction modification system.

BamHI, a Type II restriction modification system from Bacillus amyloliquefaciensH recognizes the sequence GGATCC. The methylase and endonuclease genes have been cloned into E. coli in separate steps; the clone is able to restrict unmodified phage. Although within the clone the methylase and endonuclease genes are present on the same pACYC184 vector, the system can be maintained in E. coli only with an additional copy of the methylase gene present on a separate vector. The initial selection for BamHI methylase activity also yielded a second BamHI methylase gene which is not homologous in DNA sequence and hybridizes to different genomic restriction fragments than does the endonuclease-linked methylase gene. Finally, the interaction of the BamHI system with the E. coli Dam and the Mcr A and B functions, have been studied and are reported here.