Template:STRUCTURE 1rva Endonuclease (ENN) cleaves phosphodiester bond within polynucleotide chain. ENN cleaves DNA at a restriction site which is usually a 6-nucleotide palindrome. ENN is restriction site–specific. Various types of ENN differ by their mechanism of action. ENN is used in genetic engineering to make recombinant DNA. ENN requires a restriction site and a cleavage pattern. ENN-I operates on DNA with separate restriction site and cleavage pattern, while ENN-II operates on overlapping restriction site and cleavage pattern. The Cas1-Cas2 ENN are involved in the CRISPR immune system which provides immunity against mobile genetic elements like viruses. Some ENNs are encoded within introns thus facilitating their mobility. These ENNs or inteins are designated I-ENN.
The Cas ENN proteins are part of CRISPR/Cas prokaryotic immune system which confers protection from foreign genetic elements. The CRISPR (Custered Regularly Interspersed Short Palindromic Repeats) are DNA loci which are found in ca. 40% of the bacteria. The CRISPR/Cas system is being used lately as gene editing tool. For more details see Cas9.
See also

3D structures of endonuclease3D structures of endonuclease

Updated on 29-March-2015

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Michal Harel, Alexander Berchansky, Joel L. Sussman