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Nucleic Acids Research, 2000, Vol. 28, No. 3 E10-e10
© 2000 Oxford University Press

Optimised ligation of oligonucleotides by thermal ligases: comparison of Thermus scotoductus and Rhodothermus marinus DNA ligases to other thermophilic ligases

J. Nicholas Housby*, Sigrídur H. Thorbjarnardóttir1, Zophonías O. Jónsson2 and Edwin M. Southern

Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QU, UK, 1Laboratory of Molecular Genetics, Institute of Biology, University of Iceland, Grensasvegur 12, 108 Reykjavik, Iceland and 2Institute of Veterinary Biochemistry, University of Zurich-Irchel, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057 Zurich, Switzerland

We describe the characterisation of four thermo­stable NAD+-dependent DNA ligases, from Thermus thermophilus (Tth), Thermus scotoductus (Ts), Rhodothermus marinus (Rm) and Thermus aquaticus (Taq), by an assay which measures ligation rate and mismatch discrimination. Complete libraries of octa-, nona- and decanucleotides were used as substrates. The assay comprised the poly­merisation of oligo­nucleotides initiated from a 17 base ‘primer’, using M13mp18 ssDNA as template. Polymers of ligation products were analysed by polyacrylamide gel electro­phoresis. Under optimum conditions, the enzymes produced polymers ranging from 8 to 16 additions; there was variation between enzymes and the length of the oligonucleotides had a strong effect. The optimal total oligonucleotide concentration for each library was ~4 nmol. We compared the rates of ligation between the four ligases using an octanucleo­tide library as substrate. By this criterion, the Ts and Rm ligases are far more active compared to the more commonly available thermostable ligases.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel: +44 01865 275224; Fax: +44 01865 275259; Email: housby@bioch.ox.ac.uk


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