Structure and function of restriction endonucleases
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Updated: Sep 4, 2026

In Vitro Directed Evolution of a Restriction Endonuclease with More Stringent Specificity
Published on: March 25, 2020
1Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Columbia University, New York, New York 10032, USA.
Abstract:
Structures of two restriction endonucleases, BamHI and PvuII, were reported in the past year. This doubles the number of restriction endonuclease structures now known from two to four, and enables a comparative analysis of their structures and modes of DNA recognition. Despite a lack of sequence homology between the enzymes, BamHI turns out to resemble EcoRI, and PvuII turns out to resemble EcoRV. The active-site regions are structurally similar in all four enzymes, but their mechanisms of cleavage may differ.
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