title: Putative three-stranded DNA pairing intermediate in recA protein-mediated DNA strand exchange: no role for guanine N-7.
abstract: As an early step in DNA strand exchange reactions, the recA protein aligns homologous sequences within two DNA molecules to form a putative triple-stranded intermediate. In virtually all models for three-stranded DNA proposed to date, hydrogen bonds involving the N-7 position of guanine have played a prominent structural role. To determine whether the N-7 position of guanine is required for triple helix and heteroduplex formation in the recA protein-mediated DNA pairing reaction, guanine was completely replaced by the base analog 7-deazaguanine in both strands of the duplex DNA substrate using polymerase chain reaction. This modified double-strand DNA was reacted with unmodified single-strand DNA in vitro. The 7-deazaguanine-substituted DNA functioned as well as the unsubstituted DNA in recA protein-mediated DNA three-strand exchange reactions. Strand exchange reactions involving four strands also proceeded normally when three of the four strands contained 7-deazaguanine rather than guanine. In fact, the rate of strand exchange improved somewhat when the modified DNA substrates were used. This indicates either that the N-7 position of guanine is not essential for the formation of the putative triple-stranded DNA pairing intermediate, or that a three-stranded (or four-stranded) structure is not an obligate intermediate in recA protein-mediated DNA strand exchange.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, University of Wisconsin, Madison 53706.
authors.forename: S K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Jain
authors.forename: R B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Inman
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Cox
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D004247:DNA / Q000378:metabolism*; D006147:Guanine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000378:metabolism; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D009692:Nucleic Acid Heteroduplexes; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011938:Rec A Recombinases / Q000378:metabolism*; D011995:Recombination, Genetic; D013379:Substrate Specificity
chemical_list: D009692:Nucleic Acid Heteroduplexes; D006147:Guanine; D004247:DNA; D011938:Rec A Recombinases; C066856:7-deazaguanine