• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.272-274
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• 2000

Temperate bacteriophage P2 has a nonessential gene called old(overcoming lysoginization defection). In the presence of old, the growth of the host (Escherichia coli) with recBC- genotype is ingibited, and another bacteriophage, lambda, cannot superinfect. The Old protein has been shown to possess an exonuclease actibity. Three mutant P2s(old 1, old 17, old 49) which did gene was coned into expression vectors to produce hexahistidine-tagged proteins. The proteins were affinity-purified and shown to lose its exonuclease activity on both double-stranded and single-stranded DNA substrates. Thus, it was concluded that the lambda exclusion was related to Old's exonuclease activity.

• BMB Reports
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.269-274
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• 2004

DNA polymerases without the 3' exonuclease function ($exo^-$ pol) have been widely used in sequencing and SNP genotyping. As a major player that expedited the coming of the postgenomic era, $exo^-$ polymerases worked remarkably well in the Human Genome Sequencing Project. However, it has become a challenge for this class of polymerases to efficiently screen the large number of SNPs that are found in the human genome. For more than three decades it has been recognized that polymerase fidelity varied according to the presence of proofreading activity that is mediated by its internal 3' exonuclease. Polymerases with proofreading function are famous for their high fidelity in DNA replication both in vivo and in vitro, but this well-known class of polymerases has been almost completely neglected in genetic analysis in the postgenomic era. We speculate that $exo^+$ polymerases may exhibit higher nucleotide identification ability when compared to $exo^-$ polymerases for an in vitro genetic analysis. With the application of $exo^+$ polymerases in SNP assays, a novel mechanism for the maintenance of DNA replication, the on/off switch, was discovered. Two new SNP assays have been developed to carry out genome-wide genotyping, taking advantage of the enzymatic properties of $exo^+$ polymerases. Furthermore, the on/off switch mechanism embodies a powerful nucleotide identification ability, which can be used to discriminate the bases that are upstream of the 3' terminus, and thus defines a new concept in de novo sequencing technology. Application of $exo^+$ polymerases to genetic analysis, and especially SNP assays, will greatly accelerate the pace to personalized medicine.