Skip Navigation


Nucleic Acids Research Advance Access originally published online on September 20, 2006
Nucleic Acids Research 2006 34(18):5021-5031; doi:10.1093/nar/gkl586
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow Print PDF (468K) Freely available
Right arrow Screen PDF (474K) Freely available
Right arrowOA All Versions of this Article:
34/18/5021    most recent
gkl586v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (2)
Right arrow Commercial Re-use Guidelines
for Open Access NAR Content
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Sagi, D.
Right arrow Articles by Stavans, J.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Sagi, D.
Right arrow Articles by Stavans, J.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Nucleic Acids Research, 2006, Vol. 34, No. 18 5021-5031
© 2006 The Author(s)
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/uk/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Nucleic Acid Enzymes

High fidelity of RecA-catalyzed recombination: a watchdog of genetic diversity

Dror Sagi, Tsvi Tlusty and Joel Stavans*

Department of Physics of Complex Systems, The Weizmann Institute of Science Rehovot 76100, Israel

*To whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel: +972 8 9342615; Fax: +972 8 9344109; Email: joel.stavans{at}weizmann.ac.il

Received June 28, 2006. Revised July 27, 2006. Accepted July 27, 2006.

Homologous recombination plays a key role in generating genetic diversity, while maintaining protein functionality. The mechanisms by which RecA enables a single-stranded segment of DNA to recognize a homologous tract within a whole genome are poorly understood. The scale by which homology recognition takes place is of a few tens of base pairs, after which the quest for homology is over. To study the mechanism of homology recognition, RecA-promoted homologous recombination between short DNA oligomers with different degrees of heterology was studied in vitro, using fluorescence resonant energy transfer. RecA can detect single mismatches at the initial stages of recombination, and the efficiency of recombination is strongly dependent on the location and distribution of mismatches. Mismatches near the 5' end of the incoming strand have a minute effect, whereas mismatches near the 3' end hinder strand exchange dramatically. There is a characteristic DNA length above which the sensitivity to heterology decreases sharply. Experiments with competitor sequences with varying degrees of homology yield information about the process of homology search and synapse lifetime. The exquisite sensitivity to mismatches and the directionality in the exchange process support a mechanism for homology recognition that can be modeled as a kinetic proofreading cascade.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.