Open AccessIndirect stimulation of genetic recombination
Author(s) -
Efim I. Golub,
K. Brooks Low
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
proceedings of the national academy of sciences of the united states of america
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.011
H-Index - 771
eISSN - 1091-6490
pISSN - 0027-8424
DOI - 10.1073/pnas.80.5.1401
Subject(s) - recombination , stimulation , homologous recombination , dna , lambda phage , escherichia coli , genetics , biology , allele , mutant , genetic recombination , homology (biology) , microbiology and biotechnology , chemistry , biophysics , gene , bacteriophage , neuroscience
Recombination betweenlac Z alleles in crosses of λlac Z1 - × λlac Z2 - and F- lac Z1 - × λlac Z2 - inEscherichia coli (λ) can be stimulated manyfold by UV irradiation of one of the λlac Z phages [Porter, R. D., McLaughlin, T. & Low, B. (1979)Cold Spring Harbor Symp. Quant. Biol. 43, 1043-1048]. Analogous stimulation has now been observed by coinfection of the cells by UV-irradiated λ phage which carries nolac region. This indirect stimulation is not dependent on induction of the SOS system. The bacterialuvr system can effectively remove the damages on the λ DNA which cause the indirect stimulation. Among a number of mutations tested, onlyssb-1 was found to cause a drastic decrease in the indirect stimulation. Indirect stimulation was caused only by using phage that had a region of homology with the recombining phage. The homologous region can be separated from the recombining region by an extended nonhomologous region (>7.9 × 103 base pairs). This implies that damages to the DNA molecule, which stimulate recombination, can be located very far from the recombining region of the molecule.