DNA/RNA non-specific endonuclease explained

Symbol:	Endonuclease_NS
Endonuclease_NS
Pfam:	PF01223
Pfam Clan:	CL0263
Interpro:	IPR001604
Prosite:	PDOC00821
Scop:	1smn
Cdd:	cd00091

In molecular biology, enzymes in the DNA/RNA non-specific endonuclease family of bacterial and eukaryotic endonucleases share the following characteristics: they act on both DNA and RNA, cleave double-stranded and single-stranded nucleic acids and require a divalent ion such as magnesium for their activity. A histidine has been shown to be essential for the activity of the Serratia marcescens nuclease. This residue is located in a conserved region which also contains an aspartic acid residue that could be implicated in the binding of the divalent ion.^[1]

Notable members of the family include Serratia marcescens NucA and human Exonuclease G.

Notes and References

1. Friedhoff P, Gimadutdinow O, Pingoud A . Identification of catalytically relevant amino acids of the extracellular Serratia marcescens endonuclease by alignment-guided mutagenesis . Nucleic Acids Res. . 22 . 16 . 3280–7 . August 1994 . 8078761 . 523719 . 10.1093/nar/22.16.3280.