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Homocopolymer sequences in the spacer of a sea urchin histone gene repeat are sensitive to S1 nuclease

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Abstract

The concept of specific functional elements in genes comprising localized or transient structural discontinuities, such as Z-DNA or cruciforme, is becoming increasingly plausible1–6. Cruciforms were first detected as supercoil-dependent single-strand nuclease (S1)-sensitive sites characterized by hyphenated inverted repeat DNA sequences2,3. Here I describe examples of a novel type of S1 nuclease site found in a sea urchin histone gene repeat and characterized by homocopolymer sequences. Endonucleolytic cleavage within these sequences does not depend on supercoiling, is highly sensitive to the salt concentration and shows a reproducible pattern of maxima and minima. This type of S1 sensitivity may reflect the potential for out-of-register DNA slippage in such sequences and I speculate that related slippage events in vivo could lead to their acting as foci for recombinational events.

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  1. Christopher C. Hentschel

    Present address: Department of Molecular Genetics, Celltech Limited, 250 Bath Road, Slough, SL1 4DY, UK

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut fur Molekularbiologie II der Universitat Zurich, Honggerberg, Zurich, 8093, Switzerland

    Christopher C. Hentschel

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  1. Christopher C. Hentschel
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Hentschel, C. Homocopolymer sequences in the spacer of a sea urchin histone gene repeat are sensitive to S1 nuclease. Nature 295, 714–716 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1038/295714a0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/295714a0

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