Micrococcal nuclease (, S7 Nuclease, MNase, spleen endonuclease, thermonuclease, nuclease T, micrococcal endonuclease, nuclease T''', staphylococcal nuclease, spleen phosphodiesterase, Staphylococcus aureus nuclease, Staphylococcus aureus nuclease B, ribonucleate (deoxynucleate) 3'-nucleotidohydrolase) is an endo-exonuclease that preferentially digests single-stranded nucleic acids. The rate of cleavage is 30 times greater at the 5' side of A or T than at G or C and results in the production of mononucleotides and oligonucleotides with terminal 3'-phosphates.Colin Dingwall, George P. Lomonossoff, Ronald A. Laskey, High sequence specificity of micrococcal nuclease, Nucleic Acids Research, Volume 9, Issue 12, 25 June 1981, Pages 2659–2674, https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/9.12.2659 The enzyme is also active against double-stranded DNA and RNA and all sequences will be ultimately cleaved.
Characteristics
The enzyme has a molecular weight of 16.9kDa. The pH optimum is reported as 9.2. The enzyme activity is strictly dependent on Ca2+ and the pH optimum varies according to Ca2+ concentration. The enzyme is therefore easily inactivated by EGTA.
Sources
This enzyme is the extracellular nuclease of Staphylococcus aureus. Two strains, V8 and Foggi, yield almost identical enzymes. A common source is E.coli cells carrying a cloned nuc gene encoding Staphylococcus aureus'' extracellular nuclease (micrococcal nuclease).
Structure The 3-dimensional structure of micrococcal nuclease (then called Staphyloccal nuclease) was solved very early in the history of protein crystallography, in 1969. Higher-resolution, more recent crystal structures are available for the apo formTruckses, D.M., Prehoda, K.E., Miller, S.C., Markley, J.L. and Somoza, J.R. (1996), Coupling between trans/cis proline isomerization and protein stability in staphylococcal nuclease. Protein Science, 5: 1907-1916. https://doi.org/10.1002/pro.5560050917 PDB: https://www.rcsb.org/structure/1SNO and for the thymidine-diphosphate-inhibited form.Khangulov, V.S., Schlessman, J.L., Heroux, A., Garcia-Moreno, E.B. Crystal structure of Staphylococcal nuclease variant Delta+PHS V104E at cryogenic temperature PDB: https://www.rcsb.org/structure/3H6MLoll, P.J. and Lattman, E.E. (1989), The crystal structure of the ternary complex of staphylococcal nuclease, Ca2+ and the inhibitor pdTp, refined at 1.65 Å. Proteins, 5: 183-201. https://doi.org/10.1002/prot.340050302 PDB: https://www.rcsb.org/structure/1SNC As seen in the ribbon diagram above, the nuclease molecule has 3 long alpha helices and a 5-stranded, barrel-shaped beta sheet, in an arrangement known as the OB-fold (for oligonucleotide-binding fold) as classified in the SCOP database.
Applications CUT&RUN sequencing, antibody-targeted controlled cleavage by micrococcal nuclease for transcriptomic profiling. Hydrolysis of nucleic acids in crude cell-free extracts. Sequencing of RNA. Preparation of rabbit reticulocyte lysates. Studies of chromatin structure. Removal of nucleic acids from laboratory protein preparations allowing for protein folding and structure-function studies. Research on the mechanisms of protein folding.
See also Serratia marcescens nuclease
References
http://www.thermoscientificbio.com/dna-and-rna-modifying-enzymes/micrococcal-nuclease/ http://www.worthington-biochem.com/NFCP/default.html http://www.thermoscientificbio.com/uploadedFiles/Resources/en0181-usa-msds.pdf - A material and safety data sheet for the product http://www.thermoscientificbio.com/uploadedFiles/Resources/en018-product-information.pdf - A Product Information sheet
External links