title: RNA facilitates RecA-mediated DNA pairing and strand transfer between molecules bearing limited regions of homology.
abstract: The RecA protein of Escherichia coli catalyzes homologous pairing and strand exchange between a wide range of molecules showing nucleotide sequence complementarity, including a linear duplex and a single-stranded DNA molecule. We demonstrate that RecA can promote formation of joint molecules when the duplex contains an RNA/DNA hairpin and a single-stranded circle serves as the pairing partner. A chimeric RNA/DNA hairpin can be used to form stable joint molecules with as little as 15 bases of shared homology as long as the RNA stretch contains complementarity to the circle. The joint molecule bears some resemblance to a triple helical structure composed of RNA residues surrounded by two DNA strands which are in a parallel orientation. Evidence is presented that supports the notion that short stretches of RNA can be used in homologous pairing reactions at lengths below that required for DNA-DNA heteroduplex formation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Jefferson Cancer Center, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19107, USA.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kotani
authors.forename: M W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Germann
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Andrus
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Vinayak
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Mullah
authors.forename: E B
authors.initials: EB
authors.lastname: Kmiec
mesh_terms: D017104:Bacteriophage M13; D001482:Base Composition; D001483:Base Sequence; D004277:DNA, Single-Stranded / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D009838:Oligodeoxyribonucleotides; D012329:RNA, Bacterial / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D011938:Rec A Recombinases / Q000378:metabolism*; D012260:Ribonucleases; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid
chemical_list: D004277:DNA, Single-Stranded; D004279:DNA, Viral; D009838:Oligodeoxyribonucleotides; D012329:RNA, Bacterial; D011938:Rec A Recombinases; D012260:Ribonucleases