BamHI

BamHI 4 GGATCC CCTAGG T Bacillus amylo-liquefaciens H... 

Figure 5.9 The formation of recombinant DNA using the restriction endonuclease BamHI.

Cutting with restriction endonucleases is very useful for moving specific pieces of DNA around from place to place. It s also a useful way to name pieces of DNA. For example, a piece of DNA that is cut from a bigger piece of DNA is often named by size and given a surname that corresponds to the two restriction enzymes that did the cutting—the 0.3-kb EcoRI-BamHI fragment. Restriction enzymes themselves are named for the bacterial strains from which they were initially isolated. 

BamHI and other restriction endonucleases are dimeric enzymes that bind to a DNA palindrome and cut both strands at equivalent positions. The cut leaves two ends with complementary overhangs that will... 

The BamHI site Is palindromic—rotate It In the plane of the paper by 180° and the recognition sequence doesn t change. 

By contrast, other restriction enzymes cut at different portions of a DNA molecule, forming an "offset" break with "sticky" ends. For example, the restriction enzyme known as BamHI cuts between two GG nitrogen bases, but at different parts of the DNA molecule, forming "overhangs or sticky ends. These sticky ends provide locations at which new nitrogen base sequences can be inserted. 

Newman, M., Strzelecka, T., Domer, L. F., Schildkraut, I. and Aggarwal, A. K. (1995). Structure of BamHI endonuclease bound to DNA partial folding and unfolding on DNA binding. Science 269, 656-663. 

Viadiu, H., Kucera, R., Schildkraut, 1. and Aggarwal, A. K. (2000). Crystallization of restriction endonuclease BamHI with nonspecific DNA. J. Struc. Biol. 130, 81-85. 

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