Affiliations: Department of Bioinformatics, Maulana Azad National
Institute of Technology (MANIT), Bhopal, India | Department of Mathematics, Maulana Azad National
Institute of Technology (MANIT), Bhopal, India | Department of Zoology, Faculty of life Sciences,
Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel
Abstract: Restriction endonucleases represent one of the best studied examples
of DNA binding proteins. Type II restriction endonucleases recognize short
sequences of foreign DNA and cleave the target on both strands with remarkable
sequence specificity. Type II restriction endonucleases are part of restriction
modification systems. Restriction modification systems occur ubiquitously among
bacteria and archaea. Restriction endonucleases are indispensable tools in
molecular biology and biotechnology. They are important model system for
specific protein-nucleic acid interactions and also serve as good example for
investigating structural, functional and evolutionary relationships among
various biomolecules. The interaction between restriction endonucleases and
their recognition sequences plays a crucial role in biochemical activities like
catalytic site/metal binding, DNA repair and recombination etc. We study
various patterns in restriction endonucleases type II and analyzed their
structural, functional and evolutionary role. Our studies support X-ray
crystallographic studies, arguing for divergence and molecular evolution.
Conservation patterns of the nuclease superfamily have also been analyzed by
estimating site-specific evolutionary rates for the analyzed structures related
to respective chains in this study.
