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Updated: Aug 19, 2026

Amplification, Next-generation Sequencing, and Genomic DNA Mapping of Retroviral Integration Sites
Published on: March 22, 2016
Mutations in the amino-terminal domain of lambda-integrase have differential effects on integrative and excisive
David Warren1, Sang Yeol Lee, Arthur Landy
1Division of Biology and Medicine, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA.
Abstract:
Lambda integrase (Int) forms higher-order protein-DNA complexes necessary for site-specific recombination. The carboxy-terminal domain of Int (75-356) is responsible for catalysis at specific core-type binding sites whereas the amino-terminal domain (1-70) is responsible for cooperative arm-type DNA binding. Alanine scanning mutagenesis of residues 64-70, within full-length integrase, has revealed differential effects on cooperative arm binding interactions that are required for integrative and excisive recombination. Interestingly, while these residues are required for cooperative arm-type binding on both P'1,2 and P'2,3 substrates, cooperative binding at the arm-type sites P'2,3 was more severely compromised than binding at arm-type sites P'1,2 for L64A. Concomitantly, L64A had a much stronger effect on integrative than on excisive recombination. The arm-binding properties of Int appear to be intrinsic to the amino-terminal domain because the phenotype of L64A was the same in an amino-terminal fragment (Int 1-75) as it was in the full-length protein.
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