A family of regulatory genes associated with type II restriction-modification systems Article (Faculty180)

cited authors

  • Tao, T; Bourne, J C; Blumenthal, R M

description

  • Restriction-modification systems must be regulated to avoid autorestriction and death of the host cell. An open reading frame (ORF) in the PvuII restriction-modification system appears to code for a regulatory protein from a previously unrecognized family. First, interruptions of this ORF result in a nonrestricting phenotype. Second, this ORF can restore restriction competence to such interrupted mutants in trans. Third, the predicted amino acid sequence of this ORF resembles those of known DNA-binding proteins and includes a probable helix-turn-helix motif. A survey of unattributed ORFs in 15 other type II restriction-modification systems revealed three that closely resemble the PvuII ORF. All four members of this putative regulatory gene family have a common position relative to the endonuclease genes, suggesting a common regulatory mechanism.

publication date

  • 1991

published in

start page

  • 1367

end page

  • 75

volume

  • 173