Protein NCRII‐18: the role of gene fusion in the molecular evolution of restriction endonucleases

Abstract

This work first constructed the fusion protein NCRII-18 by fusing the restriction endonuclease Ecl18kI gene and part of the gene coding for the N-terminal domain of the endonuclease EcoRII. The fusion of the EcoRII N-terminal domain leads to a change in the properties of the recombinant protein. Unlike Ecl18kI, which made the basis of NCRII-18, the fusion protein predominantly recognizes the CCWGG sites, having lost the capability of interacting with the CCSGG sites. Experimental data support the hypothesis of a close evolutionary relationship between type IIE and IIP restriction endonucleases via a recombination between domains with active site structure and elements for recognition with domains responsible for recognition of DNA sequences.