A relationship between plasmid structure, structural lability, and sensitivity to site-specific endonucleases in Neisseria gonorrhoeae.
Nearly all gonococcal strains carry a small "phenotypically cryptic" plasmid of approximately 4,200 basepairs. A detailed physical map of this plasmid has been constructed, revealing the presence of numerous putative inverted repeats. These studies also revealed the presence on the plasmid of recognition sequences for several site-specific endonucleases (particularly HpaII, MspI and AluI) that are particularly resistant to cleavage, and confirmed previous reports of structural lability. Both the sites that are resistant to cleavage, and the observed structural variation are associated with the inverted repetitive sequences.
D001482:Base Composition; D001483:Base Sequence; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D004262:DNA Restriction Enzymes; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics*; D014644:Genetic Variation; D009344:Neisseria gonorrhoeae / Q000235:genetics*; D010957:Plasmids; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship; D013379:Substrate Specificity
D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D004262:DNA Restriction Enzymes