Mesophilic cyanobacteria producing thermophilic restriction endonucleases

Abstract When searching for the site-specific endonucleases in several strains of Phormidium we made the following observations. Among the 16 strains that originated from 15 species of Phormidium, 12 produced one or more restriction enzymes, of which two produced the highly thermophilic restriction...

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Published in:FEMS microbiology letters 2001-05, Vol.198 (2), p.135-140
Main Authors: Piechula, Stanisław, Waleron, Krzysztof, Światek, Wojciech, Biedrzycka, Iwona, Podhajska, Anna J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Bacteriological methods and techniques used in bacteriology
Bacteriology
Biological and medical sciences
Cyanobacteria
Cyanobacteria - classification
Cyanobacteria - enzymology
Cyanobacteria - growth & development
Cyanobacterium
Cyanophyta
Deoxyribonucleases, Type II Site-Specific - metabolism
DNA Restriction Enzymes - chemistry
DNA Restriction Enzymes - metabolism
Enzyme Stability
Enzymes
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Gene transfer
Isoschizomer
mesophiles
Methyltransferase
Microbial ecology
Microbiology
Microorganisms
Optimization
Phormidium
Restriction endonuclease
Strains (organisms)
Temperature
Thermodynamics
thermophiles
Thermus - enzymology
Various environments (extraatmospheric space, air, water)
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Summary:Abstract When searching for the site-specific endonucleases in several strains of Phormidium we made the following observations. Among the 16 strains that originated from 15 species of Phormidium, 12 produced one or more restriction enzymes, of which two produced the highly thermophilic restriction endonucleases PtaI and PpaAII with their optimum activity at 65–80°C, which is far above the lethal temperature for the host microorganism (40°C). These two temperature-resistant enzymes are isoschizomers of known BspMII and TaqI endonucleases, respectively. The presence of the thermophilic TaqI isoschizomer does not seem to play any role in the mesophilic host microorganism, which does not even contain an active cognate methyltransferase. Among the remaining 10 strains, six produced isoschizomers of endonucleases which we first described in cyanobacteria, namely: PfaAII (NdeI), PinBII and PtaI (BspMII), PlaAII (RsaI), PpaAII, PpeI (ApaI). Two enzymes, PauAII (AhaIII) and PfaAII (NdeI), belong to a group of a very rarely occurring isoschizomers. Out of 21 cyanobacterial endonucleases investigated by us, four were active in a wide range of temperatures (from 15 to 60°C) which also extended the optimal growth temperature of the hosts. We assume that our observation on the presence of temperature-resistant restriction enzymes in mesophilic hosts supports the idea of horizontal gene transfer. Restriction modification systems may be an excellent tool for investigation of that phenomenon.
ISSN:0378-1097
1574-6968
DOI:10.1111/j.1574-6968.2001.tb10632.x