Kinetics of methylation of DNA by a restriction endonuclease from Escherichia coli B.

The restriction endonuclease from E. coli B is both an endonuclease and a DNA methylase. Both activities either require or are stimulated by Mg(+2), adenosine triphosphate, and S-adenosyl-L-methionine. The particular activity which the enzyme exhibits depends upon the nature of the SB sites, the genetic sites that identify substrate DNA. Enzymatic treatment of DNA that has an unmodified, wild-type SB site results in either rapid restriction of the DNA or very slow methylation of the SB site. On the other hand, a hybrid SB site (modified), which protects the DNA molecule from restriction, results in rapid methylation of that SB site.