Star activity is the relaxation or alteration of the specificity of restriction enzyme mediated cleavage of DNA that can occur under reaction conditions that differ significantly from those optimal for the enzyme. The result is typically cleavage at non-canonical recognition sites, or sometimes complete loss of specificity.
Differences which can lead to star include low ionic strength, high pH, and high (> 5% v/v) glycerol concentrations. [1] The latter condition is of particular practical interest, since commercial restriction enzymes are usually supplied in a buffer containing a substantial amount of glycerol (50% v/v is typical), meaning insufficient dilution of the enzyme solution can cause star activity; this problem most often arises during double or multiple digests. Star activity can happen because of presence of Mg2+, as is seen in HindIII, for example.
The term star activity was introduced by Mayer [2] who characterized the modified activity in EcoRI.
A restriction enzyme, restriction endonuclease, REase, ENase orrestrictase is an enzyme that cleaves DNA into fragments at or near specific recognition sites within molecules known as restriction sites. Restriction enzymes are one class of the broader endonuclease group of enzymes. Restriction enzymes are commonly classified into five types, which differ in their structure and whether they cut their DNA substrate at their recognition site, or if the recognition and cleavage sites are separate from one another. To cut DNA, all restriction enzymes make two incisions, once through each sugar-phosphate backbone of the DNA double helix.
The restriction modification system is found in bacteria and other prokaryotic organisms, and provides a defense against foreign DNA, such as that borne by bacteriophages.
In biochemistry, a nuclease is an enzyme capable of cleaving the phosphodiester bonds between nucleotides of nucleic acids. Nucleases variously effect single and double stranded breaks in their target molecules. In living organisms, they are essential machinery for many aspects of DNA repair. Defects in certain nucleases can cause genetic instability or immunodeficiency. Nucleases are also extensively used in molecular cloning.
In molecular biology, endonucleases are enzymes that cleave the phosphodiester bond within a polynucleotide chain. Some, such as deoxyribonuclease I, cut DNA relatively nonspecifically, while many, typically called restriction endonucleases or restriction enzymes, cleave only at very specific nucleotide sequences. Endonucleases differ from exonucleases, which cleave the ends of recognition sequences instead of the middle (endo) portion. Some enzymes known as "exo-endonucleases", however, are not limited to either nuclease function, displaying qualities that are both endo- and exo-like. Evidence suggests that endonuclease activity experiences a lag compared to exonuclease activity.
The restriction endonuclease Fok1, naturally found in Flavobacterium okeanokoites, is a bacterial type IIS restriction endonuclease consisting of an N-terminal DNA-binding domain and a non sequence-specific DNA cleavage domain at the C-terminal. Once the protein is bound to duplex DNA via its DNA-binding domain at the 5'-GGATG-3' recognition site, the DNA cleavage domain is activated and cleaves the DNA at two locations, regardless of the nucleotide sequence at the cut site. The DNA is cut 9 nucleotides downstream of the motif on the forward strand, and 13 nucleotides downstream of the motif on the reverse strand, producing two sticky ends with 4-bp overhangs.
HindIII (pronounced "Hin D Three") is a type II site-specific deoxyribonuclease restriction enzyme isolated from Haemophilus influenzae that cleaves the DNA palindromic sequence AAGCTT in the presence of the cofactor Mg2+ via hydrolysis.
HaeIII is one of many restriction enzymes (endonucleases) a type of prokaryotic DNA that protects organisms from unknown, foreign DNA. It is a restriction enzyme used in molecular biology laboratories. It was the third endonuclease to be isolated from the Haemophilus aegyptius bacteria. The enzyme's recognition site—the place where it cuts DNA molecules—is the GGCC nucleotide sequence which means it cleaves DNA at the site 5′-GG/CC-3. The recognition site is usually around 4-8 bps.This enzyme's gene has been sequenced and cloned. This is done to make DNA fragments in blunt ends. HaeIII is not effective for single stranded DNA cleavage.
EcoRV is a type II restriction endonuclease isolated from certain strains of Escherichia coli. It has the alternative name Eco32I.
BamHI is a type II restriction endonuclease, having the capacity for recognizing short sequences of DNA and specifically cleaving them at a target site. This exhibit focuses on the structure-function relations of BamHI as described by Newman, et al. (1995). BamHI binds at the recognition sequence 5'-GGATCC-3', and cleaves these sequences just after the 5'-guanine on each strand. This cleavage results in sticky ends which are 4 bp long. In its unbound form, BamHI displays a central b sheet, which resides in between α-helices.
The homing endonucleases are a collection of endonucleases encoded either as freestanding genes within introns, as fusions with host proteins, or as self-splicing inteins. They catalyze the hydrolysis of genomic DNA within the cells that synthesize them, but do so at very few, or even singular, locations. Repair of the hydrolyzed DNA by the host cell frequently results in the gene encoding the homing endonuclease having been copied into the cleavage site, hence the term 'homing' to describe the movement of these genes. Homing endonucleases can thereby transmit their genes horizontally within a host population, increasing their allele frequency at greater than Mendelian rates.
BglII is a type II restriction endonuclease isolated from certain strains of Bacillus globigii.
Restriction endonuclease (REase) EcoRII is an enzyme of restriction modification system (RM) naturally found in Escherichia coli, a Gram-negative bacteria. Its molecular mass is 45.2 kDa, being composed of 402 amino acids.
PstI is a type II restriction endonuclease isolated from the Gram negative species, Providencia stuartii.
Meganucleases are endodeoxyribonucleases characterized by a large recognition site ; as a result this site generally occurs only once in any given genome. For example, the 18-base pair sequence recognized by the I-SceI meganuclease would on average require a genome twenty times the size of the human genome to be found once by chance. Meganucleases are therefore considered to be the most specific naturally occurring restriction enzymes.
Cas9 is a 160 kilodalton protein which plays a vital role in the immunological defense of certain bacteria against DNA viruses and plasmids, and is heavily utilized in genetic engineering applications. Its main function is to cut DNA and thereby alter a cell's genome. The CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing technique was a significant contributor to the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2020 being awarded to Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna.
EcoRI is a restriction endonuclease enzyme isolated from species E. coli. It is a restriction enzyme that cleaves DNA double helices into fragments at specific sites, and is also a part of the restriction modification system. The Eco part of the enzyme's name originates from the species from which it was isolated - "E" denotes generic name which is "Escherichia" and "co" denotes species name, "coli" - while the R represents the particular strain, in this case RY13, and the I denotes that it was the first enzyme isolated from this strain.