Cloning DNA restriction endonuclease fragments with protruding single-stranded ends.

A new method of in vitro recombination was employed to construct plasmids containing lac promoter fragments 64 bp and 144 bp long. The 64 bp HpaII-HhaI fragment contains the binding site for the catabolite activator protein (CAP). The HpaII-HaeIII 144 bp fragment includes the binding sites for RNA polymerase, the lac repressor and CAP. The method utilizes the ability of T4 DNA polymerase to make flush-ended DNA either by filling in a recessed 3'-end or by exonucleolytic removal of a protruding 3'-end. The treated fragments were then blunt-end ligated to the filled-in EcoRI cloning sites of the plasmids pVH51 and pBR322 using T4 ligase. In this process, the EcoRI sites were regenerated on the fragment ends thus facilitating the subsequent isolation of the fragments from their cloning vectors.