Team:Imperial College London/M3/Genetic/Dam

Dam methylase
Dam methylase, or DNA adenine methylase, is from Escherichia coli (strain K12). It methylates the N6 position of Adenine in the sequence GATC. Dam methylation has multiple roles within the cell. The most documented role is in recognising parental DNA in post-replicative mismatch repair, but the methylation state is also known to be a signal that is recognised by other systems of the body, including replication, transcription of certain genes, transposition and segregation of the chromosomes. In E.coli K12, about 2% of Adenines are methylated by the native Dam methylase. Dam methylases are present within Dam positive strains at a low concentration of the order of 100 molecules per cell.