title: Archaebacterial reverse gyrase cleavage-site specificity is similar to that of eubacterial DNA topoisomerases I.
abstract: ATP-dependent type I topoisomerases from extremely thermophilic archaebacteria--reverse gyrases--drive positive supercoiling of DNA. We showed that reverse gyrase from Desulfurococcus amylolyticus breaks the DNA at specific sites and covalently binds to the 5' end. In 30 out of 31 sites located in pBR322 DNA fragments, cleavage occurs at the sequence 5'---CNNN/---(N is any base). The same rule was previously shown to hold for single-stranded DNA breakage by eubacterial topoisomerases I. The relative cleavage frequencies at different sites depend on Mg2+ and temperature. We discuss the possible physiological and mechanistic role of the above specificity of the bacterial topoisomerases I.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Molecular Genetics, USSR Academy of Sciences, Moscow.
authors.forename: O I
authors.initials: OI
authors.lastname: Kovalsky
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Kozyavkin
authors.forename: A I
authors.initials: AI
authors.lastname: Slesarev
mesh_terms: D001105:Archaea / Q000201:enzymology*; D001419:Bacteria / Q000201:enzymology*; D001483:Base Sequence; D004264:DNA Topoisomerases, Type I / Q000378:metabolism*; D004250:DNA Topoisomerases, Type II / Q000378:metabolism*; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000378:metabolism*; D003720:Densitometry; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000201:enzymology; D008837:Micrococcus / Q000201:enzymology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D013379:Substrate Specificity; D013696:Temperature
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial; C041813:DNA reverse gyrase; D004264:DNA Topoisomerases, Type I; D004250:DNA Topoisomerases, Type II