The purification of nuclease-free T4-RNA ligase.

RNA ligase has been highly purified in good yields from bacteriophage T4-infected Escherichia coli by a rapid and reproducible procedure. The enzyme is free of phosphomonoesterase and ribonuclease activities and is therefore suitable for the synthesis of oligoribonucleotides and for the labeling of the 3'-terminus of RNA. Greater than 90% of the protein in the enzyme preparation migrates as a single band on gradient polyacrylamide gels containing sodium dodecyl sulfate during electrophoresis. For use as a DNA synthesis reagent the enzyme may be reliably freed of deoxyribonuclease activity by an additional chromatographic procedure using a commercially avialable resin.