PubMed HealthSearch

Biomedical subjects

J Hanish

Publications and source records attributed to J Hanish.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

Sir3p domains involved in the initiation of telomeric silencing in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Previous studies from our laboratory have demonstrated that tethering of Sir3p at the subtelomeric/telomeric junction restores silencing in strains containing Rap1-17p, a mutant protein unable to recruit Sir3p. This tethered silencing assay serves as a model system for the early events that follow recruitment of silencing factors, a process we term initiation. A series of LexA fusion proteins in-frame with various Sir3p fragments were constructed and tested for their ability to support tethered silencing. Interestingly, a region comprising only the C-terminal 144 amino acids, termed the C-terminal domain (CTD), is both necessary and sufficient for restoration of silencing. Curiously, the LexA-Sir3(N205) mutant protein overcomes the requirement for the CTD, possibly by unmasking a cryptic initiation site. A second domain spanning amino acids 481-835, termed the nonessential for initiation domain (NID), is dispensable for the Sir3p function in initiation, but is required for the recruitment of the Sir4p C terminus. In addition, in the absence of the N-terminal 481 amino acids, the NID negatively influences CTD activity. This suggests the presence of a third region, consisting of the N-terminal half (1-481) of Sir3p, termed the positive regulatory domain (PRD), which is required to initiate silencing in the presence of the NID. These data suggest that the CTD "active" site is under both positive and negative control mediated by multiple Sir3p domains.

DNA-Binding Proteins

A human telomeric protein.

Telomeres are multifunctional elements that shield chromosome ends from degradation and end-to-end fusions, prevent activation of DNA damage checkpoints, and modulate the maintenance of telomeric DNA by telomerase. A major protein component of human telomeres has been identified and cloned. This factor, TRF, contains one Myb-type DNA-binding repeat and an amino-terminal acidic domain. Immunofluorescent labeling shows that TRF specifically colocalizes with telomeric DNA in human interphase cells and is located at chromosome ends during metaphase. The presence of TRF along the telomeric TTAGGG repeat array demonstrates that human telomeres form a specialized nucleoprotein complex.

Amino Acid Sequence

Enzymatic cleavage of a bacterial chromosome at a transposon-inserted rare site.

The sequential use of the methylase M.Xbal (5'.TCTAGm6A) and the methylation-dependent endonuclease Dpnl (5'-Gm6A decreases TC) results in cleavage at 5'.TCTAGA decreases TCTAGA. This recognition sequence was introduced into a transposon derived from the Mu bacteriophage and transposed into the genome of the bacterium Salmonella typhimurium. M.Xbal methylation was provided in vivo by a plasmid containing the M.Xbal gene and the S. typhimurium genome was cleaved to completion by Dpnl at one or more sites, depending on the number of transposon insertions. The resulting genomic fragments were resolved by pulsed-field electrophoresis. The potential use of single M.Xbal/Dpnl cleavage sites as reference positions to map rare restriction sites is discussed.

Base Sequence

Application of methylase-limited partial NotI cleavage for a long-range restriction map of the human ABL locus.

The use of partial restriction digests for mapping complex genomes by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis has been limited by the difficulty of consistently obtaining these digests in agarose, which is a necessary matrix for high-molecular-weight DNA. Enzyme cleavage in agarose is faster then diffusion for most of the enzymes which cleave infrequently. We have developed a method for the production of partial digests in agarose for the endonuclease NotI (5' . . . GC/GGCCGC . . . 3') which circumvents the diffusion problem by using the blocking methylase M. BspRI (5' . . . GGmCC . . . 3'), which competes for the same sites. Using various ratios of the methylase and endonuclease results in partial digests in any size range desired. We report the successful application of this technique to the production of NotI partial digests of human genomic DNA for the mapping of the ABL locus of human chromosome 9.

Base Sequence

Methylase-limited partial NotI cleavage for physical mapping of genomic DNA.

UNLABELLED: Partial cleavage of DNA with the restriction endonuclease NotI (5'...GC/GGCCGC...3') is an important technique for genomic mapping. However, partial genomic cleavage with this enzyme is impaired by the agarose matrix in which the DNA must be suspended. To solve this problem we have purified the blocking methylase M. BspRI (5'...GGmCC...3') for competition digests with NotI. The resulting methylase-limited partial DNA cleavage is shown to be superior to standard techniques on bacterial genomic DNA. ABBREVIATIONS: bp, base-pair; kb, one thousand base-pairs; Mb, one million base-pairs; Tris, Tris(hydroxy-methyl)aminomethane; EDTA, (ethylenedinitrilo)tetraacetic; beta-ME, beta-mercaptoethanol; PMSF, phenyl methyl-sulfonyl fluoride; PEG, polyethyleneglycol (MW = 8000); 3H, tritium; SAM, S-adenosylmethionine; KGB, potassium glutamate buffer; DTT, dithiothreitol; IPTG, isopropyl-beta-D-thiogalactopyranoside; BSA, bovine serum albumin.

Blotting, Southern

Controlled partial restriction digestions of DNA by competition with modification methyltransferases.

Competitive reactions, using defined ratios of DNA restriction methyltransferase to endonuclease, are shown to result in reliable partial restriction digests of DNA. This method is suitable over a wide range of DNA concentrations and works on DNA in liquid or embedded in agarose. Simultaneous methylase/endonuclease reactions using endonucleases that cleave human DNA very infrequently, such as ClaI or NotI, should generate very large discrete partial DNA fragments suitable for physical mapping in the million base-pair range. Another possible application of methylase/endonuclease competitive reactions is the production of defined partial digests for making cosmid, lambda, or other genomic libraries.

Autoradiography