(1) The Key Laboratory of Bioorganic Phosphorus, Chemical Biology, Ministry of Education, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China;(2) Department of Chemistry, Capital Normal University, 100037 Beijing, China
Abstract:
A branched peptide Nα, Nɛ-di (l-leucyl)-l-lysine was found to efficiently cleave supercoiled double-strand DNA such as PUC19 DNA at optimum pH 4.0 in 40 mmol/l Britton–Robbinson buffer. The T4 ligase experiment implied that the DNA cleavage occurs via a hydrolytic path. The dependence of the cleavage reaction on the ionic strength indicated that the interaction of DNA with the branched peptide involve only electrostatic binding.