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BackgroundIn recent years, there has been an increasing interest in SSBs because they find numerous applications in diverse molecular biology and analytical methods.ResultsWe report the characterization of single-stranded DNA binding proteins (SSBs) from the thermophilic bacteria Thermotoga maritima (TmaSSB) and Thermotoga neapolitana (TneSSB). They are the smallest known bacterial SSB proteins, consisting of 141 and 142 amino acid residues with a calculated molecular mass of 16.30 and 16.58 kDa, respectively. The similarity between amino acid sequences of these proteins is very high: 90% identity and 95% similarity. Surprisingly, both TmaSSB and TneSSB possess a quite low sequence similarity to Escherichia coli SSB (36 and 35% identity, 55 and 56% similarity, respectively). They are functional as homotetramers containing one single-stranded DNA binding domain (OB-fold) in each monomer. Agarose mobility assays indicated that the ssDNA-binding site for both proteins is salt independent, and fluorescence spectroscopy resulted in a size of 68 ± 2 nucleotides. The half-lives of TmaSSB and TneSSB were 10 h and 12 h at 100°C, respectively. When analysed by differential scanning microcalorimetry (DSC) the melting temperature (Tm) was 109.3°C and 112.5°C for TmaSSB and TneSSB, respectively.ConclusionThe results showed that TmaSSB and TneSSB are the most thermostable SSB proteins identified to date, offering an attractive alternative to TaqSSB and TthSSB in molecular biology applications, especially with using high temperature e. g. polymerase chain reaction (PCR).

BackgroundSSB (single-stranded DNA-binding) proteins play an essential role in all living cells and viruses, as they are involved in processes connected with ssDNA metabolism. There has recently been an increasing interest in SSBs, since they can be applied in molecular biology techniques and analytical methods. Nanoarchaeum equitans, the only known representative of Archaea phylum Nanoarchaeota, is a hyperthermophilic, nanosized, obligatory parasite/symbiont of Ignicoccus hospitalis.ResultsThis paper reports on the ssb-like gene cloning, gene expression and characterization of a novel nucleic acid binding protein from Nanoarchaeum equitans archaeon (NeqSSB-like protein). This protein consists of 243 amino acid residues and one OB fold per monomer. It is biologically active as a monomer like as SSBs from some viruses. The NeqSSB-like protein displays a low sequence similarity to the Escherichia coli SSB, namely 10% identity and 29% similarity, and is the most similar to the Sulfolobus solfataricus SSB (14% identity and 32% similarity). The NeqSSB-like protein binds to ssDNA, although it can also bind mRNA and, surprisingly, various dsDNA forms, with no structure-dependent preferences as evidenced by gel mobility shift assays. The size of the ssDNA binding site, which was estimated using fluorescence spectroscopy, is 7±1 nt. No salt-dependent binding mode transition was observed. NeqSSB-like protein probably utilizes a different model for ssDNA binding than the SSB proteins studied so far. This protein is highly thermostable; the half-life of the ssDNA binding activity is 5 min at 100°C and melting temperature (Tm) is 100.2°C as shown by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis.Conclusion NeqSSB-like protein is a novel highly thermostable protein which possesses a unique broad substrate specificity and is able to bind all types of nucleic acids.

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