Endonuclease and splicing activity of a Haloferax volcanii intein

Abstract

Protein splicing is a post‐translational process facilitated by an intervening polypeptide called an internal protein, or intein. The intein is located between two flanking polypeptides, called exteins. The intein catalyzes its excision from the extein concomitantly with the ligation of the exteins. The extremophile Haloferax volcanii exists in a high salt environment. We are interested in the halophile because we want to learn how efficiently the intein that has invaded its PolB gene splices as a function of salt concentration. We have shown that we can induce splicing of the intein in vitro at high salt. Collaborators have demonstrated that the intein has an active homing endonuclease domain in vivo, and that the presence of the intein has a high fitness cost for the organism. We are interested in studying the endonuclease activity of the intein in vitro, given that a salt‐dependent conditionally‐active nuclease may have utility in biotechnology applications.Support or Funding InformationThis work was supported by the National Science Foundation (grant MCB‐1517138) and by the Camille & Henry Dreyfus FoundationThis abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.