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Tailed duplex DNA is the preferred substrate for Rad51 protein-mediated homologous pairing
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Tailed duplex DNA is the preferred substrate for Rad51 protein-mediated homologous pairing

Alexander V Mazin, Elena Zaitseva, Patrick Sung and Stephen C Kowalczykowski
The EMBO journal, v 19(5), pp 1148-1156
01 Mar 2000
PMID: 10698955
url
https://doi.org/10.1093/emboj/19.5.1148View
Published, Version of Record (VoR) Open

Abstract

homologous recombination joint molecule formation DNA strand exchange
The repair of potentially lethal DNA double-stranded breaks (DSBs) by homologous recombination requires processing of the broken DNA into a resected DNA duplex with a protruding 3′-single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) tail. Accordingly, the canonical models for DSB repair require invasion of an intact homologous DNA template by the 3′–end of the ssDNA, a characteristic that the bacterial pairing protein RecA possesses. Unexpectedly, we find that for the eukaryotic homolog, Rad51 protein, the 5′–end of ssDNA is more invasive than the 3′–end. This pairing bias is unaffected by Rad52, Rad54 or Rad55–57 proteins. However, further investigation reveals that, in contrast to RecA protein, the preferred DNA substrate for Rad51 protein is not ssDNA but rather dsDNA with ssDNA tails. This important distinction permits the Rad51 proteins to promote DNA strand invasion using either 3′- or 5′–ends with similar efficiency.

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Collaboration types
Domestic collaboration
Web of Science research areas
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Cell Biology
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