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Hypothetically... Can a restriction site on a DNA sequence be less than 4 base pairs?
If there's any data you have to back up YES, then I will get another point back on my lab practical.
If it's HYPOTHETICALLY possible, I would love to know!
Thanks.
Mike
1 Answer
- chris bLv 61 decade agoFavorite Answer
it depends on what you're asking... does the question require that you're talking about a restriction site?
i haven't really seen any that are less than 4 base pairs
this has to do with the fact that restriction enzymes use a palendromic sequence to find where to cut
you can't really form a palendrome with 3, or 1 base pairs, 2 maybe but then really it's just cutting at what seems a random spot, in which case you probably wouldn't call it a restriction enzyme you'd just call it a DNase or endonuclease
you may try to look for endonucleases that only cut at
AT
TA
or
CG
GC
then try to argue that those are technically restriction enzymes
so hypothetically, you may be correct,.. you may be asked to find evidence for the enzyme though
i'm not really going to try to search for that but you can