mei-3, a recombination and repair gene of Neurospora crassa, encodes a RecA-like protein.
Neurospora crassa mei-3 is a mutant which exhibits meiotic and mitotic defects and mutagen sensitivity. Its defect is believed to be in recombination and repair. We have cloned the mei-3 gene from a N. crassa cosmid library of genomic DNA. Restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis determined the location of the cloned fragment was on chromosome one in approximately the same position that was previously reported for mei-3 by classical genetic methods. Deletion analysis showed the approximate coding region of mei-3 on the cloned genomic fragment. Northern blot analysis identified a 900-bp transcript. Sequencing revealed a 798-bp open reading frame with high coding preference which could encode a protein having a molecular weight of approximately 29,000. The predicted protein product of mei-3 has significant identity to the Rad51 and Dmc1 proteins from Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The mei-3 gene and both yeast genes have significant primary sequence homology with RecA, a recombination protein identified in Escherichia coli. The results suggest RecA-like proteins involved in DNA recombination and repair are highly conserved in eukaryotes.
Cheng
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Department of Microbiology, University of New Mexico School of Medicine, Albuquerque 87131-5276.
Baker
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Radloff
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D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001483:Base Sequence; D015152:Blotting, Northern; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D016384:Consensus Sequence; D004260:DNA Repair / Q000235:genetics*; D004271:DNA, Fungal; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D005800:Genes, Fungal; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009492:Neurospora crassa / Q000235:genetics*; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; D012331:RNA, Fungal / Q000032:analysis; D011938:Rec A Recombinases / Q000235:genetics*; D011995:Recombination, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D015183:Restriction Mapping; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
D004271:DNA, Fungal; D005656:Fungal Proteins; C083569:MEI-3 protein, Neurospora crassa; D012331:RNA, Fungal; D011938:Rec A Recombinases