Restriction enzymes are common tools to compose genetically engineered plasmids in vitro. In laboratory circumstances it is possible to break DNA strands and recombine it with another strand.
However, I do not know whether such processes may happen spontaneously in cells that contain endonucleases and are co-infected with DNAs of different viruses? Or splitting and recombining DNA strands by endonucleases may only work with isolated endonucleases in laboratory settings?
I am not aware of any such events found in nature where a hybrid boundary was defined by a restriction site from in vivo processes (outside of processes where site specific recombinases are involved).
At least in bacteria, cellular exonuclease are sufficiently active that DNA cleaved by a restriction endonuclease in vivo are actively degraded.
It is unlikely to occur as the species with the restriction enzymes tend to lack the recognition sites in their own genome to provide selectivity against foreign DNA. What may occur is digestion with the restriction enzyme followed by NHEJ mediated insertion. Still the odds of it occurring are very slim.
Weird question but interesting. In theory this could happen I think. Provided that the restriction enzyme and some kind of ligase are expressed in your cells. It is hard anyway since I think that exonuclease would rapidly degrade any "linear" DNA (in eukaryotic cell DNA unprotected with telomeric structure). The point is however what's your cell systems? Bacteria, eukaryotic cell or what?
Is it a question for curiosity or are you actually trying to do it?
Remeber that in bacteria some sequence are recognized as endogenous and methylated to avoid endogenous restriction enzyme to cut them. Being theoretically possible I think it is rather unlikely anyway.... Let us know if it happen in your system!
Fabio Biella that is precisely what happens in E. coli, linear DNA is rapidly degraded. That is why you can not transform with linear DNA unless you use special strains of E. coli that either delete or otherwise inhibit RecBCD nuclease. But it is different in other bacteria and seems to be different in eukaryotes which do not do the same.
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