Discovery and characterization of a thermostable bacteriophage RNA ligase homologous to T4 RNA ligase 1
Thermophilic viruses represent a novel source of genetic material and enzymes with great potential for use in biotechnology. We have isolated a number of thermophilic viruses from geothermal areas in Iceland, and by combining high throughput genome sequencing and state of the art bioinformatics we h...
Published in: | Nucleic Acids Research |
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Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
Format: | Text |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Oxford University Press
2003
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC291858 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14654700 https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkg914 |
Summary: | Thermophilic viruses represent a novel source of genetic material and enzymes with great potential for use in biotechnology. We have isolated a number of thermophilic viruses from geothermal areas in Iceland, and by combining high throughput genome sequencing and state of the art bioinformatics we have identified a number of genes with potential use in biotechnology. We have also demonstrated the existence of thermostable counterparts of previously known bacteriophage enzymes. Here we describe a thermostable RNA ligase 1 from the thermophilic bacteriophage RM378 that infects the thermophilic eubacterium Rhodothermus marinus. The RM378 RNA ligase 1 has a temperature optimum of 60–64°C and it ligates both RNA and single-stranded DNA. Its thermostability and ability to work under conditions of high temperature where nucleic acid secondary structures are removed makes it an ideal enzyme for RNA ligase-mediated rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RLM-RACE), and other RNA and DNA ligation applications. |
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