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Unraveling the late stages of recombinational repair: Metabolism of DNA junctions in Escherichia coli
Author(s) -
Kuzminov Andrei
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
bioessays
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.175
H-Index - 184
eISSN - 1521-1878
pISSN - 0265-9247
DOI - 10.1002/bies.950180911
Subject(s) - holliday junction , dna , branch migration , endonuclease , homologous recombination , dna repair , biology , microbiology and biotechnology , escherichia coli , helicase , biophysics , chemistry , biochemistry , gene , rna
DNA junctions are by‐products of recombinational repair, during which a damaged DNA sequence, assisted by RecA filament, invades an intact homologous DNA to form a joint molecule. The junctions are three‐strand or four‐strand depending on how many single DNA strands participate in joint molecules. In E. coli , at least two independent pathways to remove the junctions are proposed to operate. One is via RuvAB‐promoted migration of four‐strand junctions with their subsequent resolution by RuvC. In vivo , RuvAB and RuvC enzymes might work in a single complex, a resolvasome, to clean DNA from used RecA filaments and to resolve four‐strand junctions. An alternative pathway for junction removal could be via RecG‐promoted branch migration of three‐strand junctions, provided that an as yet uncharacterized endonuclease activity incises one of the strands in the joint molecules.