| abstract |
The present invention provides an exonuclease or an enzymatically active fragment thereof, said exonuclease having the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID No. 1 or an amino acid sequence at least about 50% identical thereto, wherein said exonuclease or its Enzymatically active fragment (i) is substantially irreversibly inactivated by heating at a temperature of about 55°C for 10 minutes in a buffer consisting of 10 mM Tris-HCl, pH 8.5 at 25°C, 50 mM KCl and 5 mM MgCl (ii) is substantially specific for single-stranded DNA; and (iii) has 3'-5' exonuclease activity. The present invention also provides a method for removing single-stranded DNA from a sample, a nucleic acid amplification method, a reverse transcription method, and a nucleic acid sequence analysis method in which an exonuclease or an enzymatically active fragment thereof is used. The present invention further provides a nucleic acid encoding the exonuclease or its enzymatically active fragment and a kit or composition comprising the same. |