FokI is a type IIs restriction endonuclease comprised of a DNA recognition domain and a catalytic domain. The structural similarity of the FokI catalytic domain to the type II restriction endonuclease BamHI monomer suggested that the FokI catalytic domains may dimerize. In addition, the FokI structure, presented in an accompanying paper in this issue of Proceedings, reveals a dimerization inter...

FokI is a member an unusual class of restriction enzymes that recognize a specific DNA sequence and cleave nonspecifically a short distance away from that sequence. FokI consists of an N-terminal DNA recognition domain and a C-terminal cleavage domain. The bipartite nature of FokI has led to the development of artificial enzymes with novel specificities. We have solved the structure of FokI to ...

OBJECTIVE To assess the association between coronary heart disease (CHD) and vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene polymorphisms in Han Chinese adults. METHODS A total of 215 CHD patients and 67 controls were recruited. In both groups, the VDR gene single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) of Tru9I (rs757343), ApaI (rs7975232), TaqI (rs731236) and FokI (rs2228570) were detected, and the frequencies of VD...

Vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene variants have been variably associated with risk of colon cancer in epidemiologic studies. We sought to further clarify the relationship between colon cancer and three single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the VDR gene (Cdx-2, FokI and TaqI) in a population-based case-control study of 250 incident cases and 246 controls. Colon cancer cases were more frequently ...

The aim of this study was to determine whether vitamin D receptor (VDR) genetic polymorphisms are associated with the susceptibility to pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB). MEDLINE and Embase databases and manual literature searches were used. A meta-analysis was conducted on the associations between the VDR FokI, TaqI, BsmI, and ApaI polymorphisms and PTB susceptibility. A total of 16 studies compris...

BACKGROUND Polymorphisms of vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene have been studied as genetic markers of type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) and some studies have reported associations with autoimmune thyroid disease. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between VDR FokI polymorphism (rs10735810), thyroid autoimmunity and thyroid dysfunction (TD) in Brazilian T1DM. METHODS One-hundred-...

AIM To evaluate the possible association between the vitamin D receptor (VDR), single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in patients with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. METHOD 968 chronic HBV infection patients were enrolled, of which 436 patients were diagnosed HCC patients, and 532 were non-HCC patients. The clinicopathological characteristics of...

We have studied comet formation on Vicia faba nuclei embedded in agarose and treated with the endonucleases DNase I (to produce SSBs or DSBs at random sites), FokI (to produce DSBs preferentially within FokI repeats), or EcoRI (to produce DSBs at random sites but not within FokI elements). DNase I-induced SSBs were detected when enzyme treatment was followed by alkaline denaturation. DSBs effic...

A genetic screen was used to identify amino acid substitutions that enable the FokI restriction endonuclease to cleave DNA in cells that express the cognate methyltransferase activity. Missense mutations that give rise to this phenotype were isolated at eight different positions (G188K, P196S, T343I, S388N, S395F, E407K, E410K, D421N), clustered in two regions of the polypeptide sequence of Fok...