title: Nicking endonucleases.
abstract: Nicking endonucleases are a new type of enzymes. Like restriction endonucleases, they recognize short specific DNA sequence and cleave DNA at a fixed position relatively to the recognition sequence. However, unlike restriction endonucleases, nicking endonucleases cleave only one predetermined DNA strand. Until recently, nicking endonucleases were suggested to be naturally mutated restriction endonucleases which had lost their ability to dimerize and as a result the ability to cleave the second strand. We have shown that nicking endonucleases are one of the subunits of heterodimeric restriction endonucleases. Mechanisms used by various restriction endonucleases for double-stranded cleavage, designing of artificial nicking endonucleases on the basis of restriction endonucleases, and application of nicking endonucleases in molecular biology are reviewed.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Biophysics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pushchino, Moscow Region, Russia. zheleznaya@iteb.ru
authors.forename: L A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Zheleznaya
authors.forename: G S
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Kachalova
authors.forename: R I
authors.initials: RI
authors.lastname: Artyukh
authors.forename: A K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Yunusova
authors.forename: T A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Perevyazova
authors.forename: N I
authors.initials: NI
authors.lastname: Matvienko
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001483:Base Sequence; D053904:DNA Breaks, Single-Stranded; D004262:DNA Restriction Enzymes / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D003850:Deoxyribonuclease I / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary
chemical_list: D004262:DNA Restriction Enzymes; D003850:Deoxyribonuclease I