Purification and characterization of an endonuclease from fruiting caps of basidiomycete Coprinus cinereus

An endonuclease was purified from the cap tissues of basidiocarp of Coprinus cinereus collected at early meiotic prophase. It has an optimal activity at pH 7.0 and 37 degrees C. It is a cationic enzyme with a molecular mass of 22 kDa by gel filtration, and contains a 12-kDa and a 14-kDa peptide as revealed by SDS gel electrophoresis and Western blot analysis. An antiserum was produced in rabbits against the purified Coprinus endonuclease. The specificity of this antiserum was demonstrated in a dot-blot analysis and, more critically, in an immunoinhibition of endonuclease activity. The Coprinus endonuclease requires Mg2+ and/or Ca2+ as co-factors. Ca2+ is more efficient than Mg2+ while the effect of combining both co-factors is the highest. The Coprinus endonuclease has a substrate preference for single-strand and supercoiled DNA. It gives only single-strand nicks on supercoiled DNA at low enzyme concentration and limited time of incubation. At high enzyme concentration and/or long incubation time, double-strand fragmentation occurred. As is discussed, this endonuclease is believed to be involved in the early phase of meiotic recombination.