title: Endonuclease G, a candidate human enzyme for the initiation of genomic inversion in herpes simplex type 1 virus.
abstract: The herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) a sequence is present as a direct repeat at the two termini of the 152-kilobase viral genome and as an inverted repeat at the junction of the two unique components L and S. During replication, the HSV-1 genome undergoes inversion of L and S, producing an equimolar mixture of the four possible isomers. Isomerization is believed to result from recombination triggered by breakage at the a sequence, a recombinational hot spot. We have identified an enzyme in HeLa cell extracts that preferentially cleaves the a sequence and have purified it to near homogeneity. Microsequencing showed it to be human endonuclease G, an enzyme with a strong preference for G+C-rich sequences. Endonuclease G appears to be the only cellular enzyme that can specifically cleave the a sequence. Endonuclease G also showed the predicted recombination properties in an in vitro recombination assay. Based on these findings, we propose that endonuclease G initiates the a sequence-mediated inversion of the L and S components during HSV-1 DNA replication.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Beckman Center, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA.
authors.forename: Ke-Jung
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Boris V
authors.initials: BV
authors.lastname: Zemelman
authors.forename: I Robert
authors.initials: IR
authors.lastname: Lehman
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D002846:Chromatography, Affinity; D004706:Endodeoxyribonucleases / Q000378:metabolism*; D016679:Genome, Viral; D006367:HeLa Cells; D018259:Herpesvirus 1, Human / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D006868:Hydrolysis; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data
chemical_list: D004706:Endodeoxyribonucleases; C052391:endonuclease G