Molecular mechanism of the inhibitory effect of methylation outside the recognition sequence of restriction endonuclease Pvu Π on its cleavage activity

In 1991, we found that methylation outside the PvuⅡ recognition sequence could partially inhibit its cleavage activity. To clarify the molecular mechanism, three plasmids with different methylation states were constructed. Then, together with the original one, four plasmids were digested with different amounts of PvuⅡ. Results show that methylation on both sites results in 90% inhibition; moving the methylated site one base further away decreases the inhibitory effect to about 30%; with the adjacent dam methylation site eliminated, the inhibitory effect disappears. The data suggest that the inhibition of cleavage activity caused by outside methylation is not "all or none", and the degree of inhibition is dependent on the position and the number of methylated bases.