Relaxase DNA binding and cleavage are two distinguishable steps in conjugative DNA processing that involve different sequence elements of the nic site.

TrwC, the relaxase of plasmid R388, catalyzes a series of concerted DNA cleavage and strand transfer reactions on a specific site (nic) of its origin of transfer (oriT). nic contains the cleavage site and an adjacent inverted repeat (IR(2)). Mutation analysis in the nic region indicated that recognition of the IR(2) proximal arm and the nucleotides located between IR(2) and the cleavage site were essential for supercoiled DNA processing, as judged either by in vitro nic cleavage or by mobilization of a plasmid containing oriT. Formation of the IR(2) cruciform and recognition of the distal IR(2) arm and loop were not necessary for these reactions to take place. On the other hand, IR(2) was not involved in TrwC single-stranded DNA processing in vitro. For single-stranded DNA nic cleavage, TrwC recognized a sequence embracing six nucleotides upstream of the cleavage site and two nucleotides downstream. This suggests that TrwC DNA binding and cleavage are two distinguishable steps in conjugative DNA processing and that different sequence elements are recognized by TrwC in each step. IR(2)-proximal arm recognition was crucial for the initial supercoiled DNA binding. Subsequent recognition of the adjacent single-stranded DNA binding site was required to position the cleavage site in the active center of the protein so that the nic cleavage reaction could take place.