Characterization of site-specific recombination by the integrase MJ1 from enterococcal bacteriophage phiFC1.
Bacteriophage phiFC1 integrase (MJ1) was previously shown to perform a site-specific recombination between a phage attachment site (attP) and a host attachment site (attB) in its host, Enterococcus faecalis, and also in a non-host bacterium, Escherichia coli. Here, we investigated biochemical features of MJ1 integrase. First, MJ1 integrase could perform in vitro recombination between attP and attB in the absence of additional factors. Second, MJ1 integrase interacted with att sites. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays and DNase I footprinting revealed that MJ1 integrase could efficiently bind to all the att sites and that MJ1 integrase recognized relatively short sequences (approximately 50 bp) containing an overlapping region within attB and attP. These results demonstrate that MJ1 integrase indeed catalyzes an integrative recombination between attP and attB, the mechanism of which might be simple and unidirectional, as found in serine integrases.
School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Korea University, Seoul 136-701, Korea.
Mi-Ok
MO
Park
Ki-Hong
KH
Lim
Tae-Hyung
TH
Kim
Hyo-Ihl
HI
Chang
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001287:Attachment Sites, Microbiological / Q000235:genetics*; D001435:Bacteriophages / Q000201:enzymology*; D001483:Base Sequence; D013293:Enterococcus faecalis / Q000821:virology*; D019426:Integrases / Q000502:physiology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011995:Recombination, Genetic
D019426:Integrases