Nucleic Acids Research Advance Access originally published online on August 7, 2007
Nucleic Acids Research 2007 35(15):e100; doi:10.1093/nar/gkm575
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Nucleic Acids Research, 2007, Vol. 35, No. 15 e100
© 2007 The Author(s)
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/uk/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Methods Online |
Analysis of a nuclease activity of catalytic domain of Thermus thermophilus MutS2 by high-accuracy mass spectrometry
1RIKEN SPring-8 Center, Harima Institute, 1-1-1 Kouto, Sayo-cho, Sayo-gun, Hyogo 679-5148 and 2Department of Biological Sciences, Graduate School of Science, Osaka University, 1-1, Machikaneyama-cho, Toyonaka, Osaka 560-0043, Japan
*To whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel: +81 06 6850 5433; Fax: +81 06 6850 5442; Email: rmasui{at}bio.sci.osaka-u.ac.jp
Received May 7, 2007. Revised July 12, 2007. Accepted July 13, 2007.
Electrospray ionization with Fourier-transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (ESI–FT ICR MS) is a powerful tool for analyzing the precise structural features of biopolymers, including oligonucleotides. Here, we described the detailed characterization of a newly discovered nuclease activity of the C-terminal domain of Thermus thermophilus MutS2 (ttMutS2). Using this method, the length, nucleotide content and nature of the 5'- and 3'-termini of the product oligonucleotides were accurately identified. It is revealed that the C-terminal domain of ttMutS2 incised the phosphate backbone of oligodeoxynucleotides non-sequence-specifically at the 3' side of the phosphates. The simultaneous identification of the innumerable fragments was achieved by the extremely high-accuracy of ESI–FT ICR MS.