Evolution of DNA restriction endonucleases and the creation of new endonucleases for DNA manipulation.

基因工程对当前所有生物研究的进展都至关重要，如果没有一类被称为限制性内切酶的催化剂，基因工程是不可能实现的。这些技术允许对DNA片段进行剪切和粘贴，以测试假设，并创建通往胰岛素等重要医疗产品的新途径。可以说，如果没有它们，现代生物学、生物技术和生物医学研究就不可能实现。已知的限制性内切酶数量很多，其中许多已经商业化。然而，人们仍在寻找新的酶，还在发明它们的新用途。我们最近解决了1968年发现和纯化的第一个限制性内切酶的结构。这些“I型”限制性内切酶迄今尚未对医疗保健、研究或财富创造产生影响，尽管它们在细菌的自然种群中大量存在，而且它们对减缓DNA编码的转移（例如，抗生素耐药性和“超级细菌”的产生）产生了影响。然而，我们的新结构显示了I型限制性内切酶如何转化为有价值的研究和医疗保健产品。由于已知存在数千种I型限制性内切酶，这种转化它们的能力保证了一种新的有用的限制性内切酶的真正富矿。我们建议在I型限制性内切酶上进行这种转化过程。除了帮助新的研究，这些新的酶很可能被证明是基因靶向和编辑的有价值的新工具；一个相对较新的领域，研究复杂生物体的遗传学，特别强调理解并最终治疗人类遗传疾病。

Genetic engineering, essential to the progress of all current biological research, would be impossible without a class of catalysts termed restriction enzymes. These allow the cutting and pasting of segments of DNA to test hypotheses and to create novel routes to vital healthcare products such as insulin. Arguably, it is fair to say that nothing in modern biology, biotechnology and biomedical research would be possible without them. The number of restriction enzymes known is large and many have been commercialised. However new enzymes are still being sought and new uses for them are still being invented. We have recently solved the structure of the first restriction enzyme to be discovered and purified in 1968. These "Type I" restriction enzymes have not so far had impact on healthcare, research or wealth creation despite their abundance in natural populations of bacteria and their impact on slowing down the transfer of DNA encoding, for example, antibiotic resistance and the creation of "superbugs". However our new structure shows how Type I restriction enzymes can be converted into valuable products for research and healthcare. Since thousands of Type I restriction enzymes are known to exist, this ability to convert them promises a veritable bonanza of new and useful restriction enzymes. We propose to perform this conversion process on the Type I restriction enzymes. As well as aiding new research these new enzymes may well prove valuable new tools for gene targeting and editing; a relatively new area studying the genetics of complex organisms particularly with an emphasis on understanding and eventually treating human genetic diseases.