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Polarity of DNA strand exchange promoted by recombination proteins of the RecA family
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Polarity of DNA strand exchange promoted by recombination proteins of the RecA family

Ravindra C Gupta, Efim I Golub, Marc S Wold and Charles M Radding
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS, Vol.95(17), pp.9843-9848
08/18/1998
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.95.17.9843
PMCID: PMC21424
PMID: 9707563
url
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.95.17.9843View
Published (Version of record) Open Access

Abstract

Homologs of Escherichia coli RecA recombination protein, which have been found throughout the living kingdom, promote homologous pairing and strand exchange. The nucleoprotein filament, within which strand exchange occurs, has been conserved through evolution, but conservation of the polarity of exchange and the significance of that directionality has not been settled. Using oligonucleotides as substrates, and assays based on fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET), we distinguished the biased formation of homologous joints at either end of duplex DNA from the subsequent directionality of strand exchange. As with E. coli RecA protein, the homologous Rad51 proteins from both Homo sapiens (HsRad51) and Saccharomyces cerevisiae (ScRad51) propagated DNA strand exchange preferentially in the 5′ to 3′ direction. The data suggest that 5′ to 3′ polarity is a conserved intrinsic property of recombination filaments.
Biological Sciences

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