The SalGI restriction endonuclease. Enzyme specificity

Abstract

The kinetics of DNA cleavage in the reaction between the SalGI restriction endonuclease and plasmid pMB9 were analyzed. This reaction is subject to competitive inhibition by DNA sequences outside the SalGI recognition site; the Km and Vmax were determined for the reaction of this enzyme at its recognition site and the KI for its interaction at other DNA sequences. The specificity of DNA cleavage by the enzyme is only partly determined by the discrimination it shows for binding at its recognition sequence compared with binding to other DNA sequences.