A protein extracted and partially purified (about 100-fold) from mouse liver is able to inhibit the acid DNases from different tissues and species, whereas pancreatic DNase and E. coli endonuclease I are not inhibited. The acid DNase displays typical Michaelis-Menten kinetics in the absence of this inhibitor, but the kinetics become sigmoidal in its presence. The existence of a DNase-inhibitor ...

1. Exposure of isolated liver mitochondria to high doses of gamma rays from a Co(60) source causes the level of DNase II activity to increase. Treatment of the mitochondria with sonic vibration causes a further elevation of the activity to a level which is independent of the prior radiation dose. 2. Such increased mitochondrial DNase II activity appears to be due to the "structural damage" of t...

Knowledge about the conformational dynamics of a protein is key to understanding its biochemical and biophysical properties. In the present work we investigated the dynamic properties of the enzymatic domain of DNase colicins via time-resolved fluorescence and anisotropy decay analysis in combination with steady-state acrylamide quenching experiments. The dynamic properties of the apoenzyme wer...

AIMS Serum deoxyribonuclease I (DNase I) activity has recently been highlighted as a potential diagnostic marker for detection of acute myocardial infarction. To evaluate whether serum DNase I activity is useful for detection of myocardial ischaemia, we investigated alteration of its levels after onset of vasospastic angina pectoris (VSAP), resulting in transient myocardial ischaemia, induced b...

Nucleosomes are the dominant autoantigens in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and immune complexes involving nucleosomes are the major cause of tissue damage. The activity of DNase I, the enzyme responsible for nucleosome degradation, has been found to be decreased in patients with SLE. However, it is not known whether DNase activity is a clinically useful parameter. The aim of...

Polyspecificity is a well-known property of the anti-DNA antibodies produced by autoimmune animals. In our search for antigen targets of anti-DNA antibodies within tissue extracts, we identified a 32-kD polypeptide that was recognized by a large panel of anti-DNA antibodies. Direct sequencing of this protein disclosed its identity with DNase I. 22 monoclonal anti-DNA antibodies bound to DNase I...

Bovine pancreatic deoxyribonuclease I (DNase I) is a nuclease of relatively low specificity which interacts with DNA in the minor groove. No contacts are made between the protein and the major groove of the nucleic acid. DNase I is structurally homologous to exonuclease III, a DNA-repair enzyme with multiple activities. One of the main differences between the two enzymes is the presence of an a...

In speculating upon the probable role of desoxyribonuclease (DNase) in the depolymerization of desoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), which characterizes (1) the "lupus erythematosus (L.E.) cell" (2), we have suggested (3), as have Klemperer and his associates (4), that an increased serum enzyme activity, potentiation of an intracellular DNase, or destruction of an intracellular inhibitor of DNase by a ...

DNA accessibility is an important layer of regulation of DNA-dependent processes. Methods that measure DNA accessibility at local and genome-wide scales have facilitated a rapid increase in the knowledge of chromatin architecture in animal and yeast systems. In contrast, much less is known about chromatin organization in plants. We developed a robust DNase I-polymerase chain reaction (PCR) prot...

Deoxyribonuclease (DNase) II in macrophages cleaves the DNA of engulfed apoptotic cells and of nuclei expelled from erythroid precursor cells. DNase II-deficient mouse embryos accumulate undigested DNA in macrophages, and die in feto because of the activation of the interferon beta (IFNbeta) gene. Here, we found that the F4/80-positive macrophages in DNase II(-/-) fetal liver specifically produ...