DNA Ligase - Applications in Molecular Biology Research

Applications in Molecular Biology Research

DNA ligases have become an indispensable tool in modern molecular biology research for generating recombinant DNA sequences. For example, DNA ligases are used with restriction enzymes to insert DNA fragments, often genes, into plasmids.

One vital aspect to performing efficient recombination experiments involving the ligation of cohesive-ended fragments is controlling the optimal temperature. Most experiments use T4 DNA Ligase (isolated from bacteriophage T4), which is most active at 25°C. However, for optimal ligation efficiency with cohesive-ended fragments ("sticky ends"), the optimal enzyme temperature needs to be balanced with the melting temperature T_m (also the annealing temperature) of the sticky ends being ligated. If the ambient temperature exceeds T_m, the homologous pairing of the sticky ends would not be stable because the high temperature disrupts hydrogen bonding. Ligation reaction is most efficient when the sticky ends are already stably annealed, disruption of the annealing ends would therefore results in low ligation efficiency. The shorter the overhang, the lower the T_m, typically a 4-base overhang has a T_m of 12-16°C.

Since blunt-ended DNA fragments have no cohesive ends to anneal, the melting temperature is not a factor to consider within the normal temperature range of the ligation reaction. However, the higher the temperature, the less chance that the ends to be joined will be aligned to allow ligation (molecules move around the solution more at higher temperatures). The limiting factor in blunt end ligation is not the activity of the ligase but rather the number of alignments between DNA fragment ends that occur. The most efficient ligation temperature for blunt-ended DNA would therefore be the temperature at which the greatest number of alignments can occur. Therefore, the majority of blunt-ended ligations are carried out at 14-20°C overnight. The absence of a stably annealed ends also means that the ligation efficiency is lowered, requiring a higher ligase concentration to be used.(T4 DNA ligase is the only commercially-available DNA ligase to anneal blunt ends).