title: Efficient gap repair in Drosophila melanogaster requires a maximum of 31 nucleotides of homologous sequence at the searching ends.
abstract: Double-strand breaks (DSB) were generated in the Drosophila melanogaster white gene by excision of the P-w(hd) element. An ectopic P-element vector carrying a modified white gene was used as a template for DSB repair. All template-dependent repair events were examined, and four different classes of events were recovered. The two most common products observed were gene conversions external to the P-w(hd) element and gene conversions (targeted transpositions) internal to the P-w(hd) element. These two events were equally frequent. Similar numbers for both orientations of internal conversion events were recovered. The results suggest that P-element excision occurs by a staggered cut that leaves behind at least 33 nucleotides of single-stranded sequence. Our results further demonstrate that an efficient homology search is conducted by the broken end with less than 31 nucleotides.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada.
authors.forename: K J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Keeler
authors.forename: G B
authors.initials: GB
authors.lastname: Gloor
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003433:Crosses, Genetic; D004260:DNA Repair / Q000235:genetics*; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements / Q000235:genetics; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000235:genetics*; D005785:Gene Conversion; D008297:Male; D008957:Models, Genetic; D010641:Phenotype; D012091:Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid / Q000235:genetics; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid
chemical_list: D004251:DNA Transposable Elements