Single stranded DNA restriction??????

[Mike Powell, PhD]

In article <1994Oct5.172950.207663 at uctvax.uct.ac.za>,
rnwil003 at uctvax.uct.ac.za wrote:

> I have been trying to find out if restriction enzymes of the type that are
> commonly used for cloning etc have any activity on single stranded DNA. Do they
> nick it under conditions which they would normally cut double stranded DNA? If
> so, do they do it in a sequence specific manner? Is this a result of the the
> single stranded DNA forming limited areas of a double stranded nature? Can it
> be prevented? I would be very grateful for any information, references or
> speculation. Please contact me at WILL at MOLBIOL.UCT.AC.ZA
> 
> William Bourn             

William,

  Check the New England Biolabs catalog p184.  There are several
enzymes that can cleave ssDNA at about %50 of the activity for
dsDNA. Personally I've used HaeIII to cut M13 ssDNA and it works
just fine.  They list HhaI, HinP1 and MNlI at %50 and others at
%10 or less.

-mike-