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Lanthanide Spectroscopic Studies Of The Dinuclear And Mg(Ii)-Dependent Pvuii Restriction Endonuclease, Gilles Muller, L. M. Bowen, J. P. Riehl, C. M. Dupureur

Gilles Muller

Type II restriction enzymes are homodimeric systems that bind four to eight base pair palindromic recognition sequences of DNA and catalyze metal ion-dependent phosphodiester cleavage. While Mg(II) is required for cleavage in these enzymes, in some systems Ca(II) promotes avid substrate binding and sequence discrimination. These properties make them useful model systems for understanding the roles of alkaline earth metal ions in nucleic acid processing. We have previously shown that two Ca(II) ions stimulate DNA binding by PvuII endonuclease and that the trivalent lanthanide ions Tb(III) and Eu(III) support subnanomolar DNA binding in this system. Here we capitalize on this …