• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.231-235
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• 1998

We have introduced a genetic assay to study the existence of intramolecular triplexes in Escherichia coli. A plasmid containing the gene that encodes a temperature-sensitive EcoRI methylase was cotransformed with different plasmids containing inserts, $(G)_9AATTC(G)_9$ and $(GAA)_9TTC(GAA)_8$, that are able to form intramolecular triplexes in vitro. Inhibition of methylation in vivo was found for $(G)_9AATTC(G)_9$ and $(GAA)_9TTC(GAA)_8$, suggesting that the pur pyr sequences adopt unusual strucures in E. coli. In addition, experiments using two dimensional gel electrophoresis confirmed that intramolecular triplexes are formed for the pur pyr sequences under negative supercoiling. These results demonstrate the existence of intramolecular triplexes in E. coli.