Isolation of novel human and mouse genes of the recA/RAD51 recombination-repair gene family.
Genes from the recA/RAD51 family play essential roles in homologous recombination in all organisms. Using sequence homologies from eukaryotic members of this family we have identified fragments of two additional mammalian genes with homology to RAD51. Cloning the full-length cDNAs for both human and mouse genes showed that the sequences are highly conserved, and that the predicted proteins have characteristic features of this gene family. One of the novel genes (R51H2) occurs in two forms in human cDNA, differing extensively at the 3' end, probably due to an unusual form of alternative splicing. The new genes (R51H2 and R51H3) were mapped to human chromosomes 14q23-24 and 17q1.2, respectively. Expression studies showed that R51H2 is expressed at lower levels than R51H3 , but that expression of both genes occurs at elevated levels in the testis compared with other tissues. The combination of gene structure conservation and the transcript expression patterns suggests that these new members of the recA/RAD51 family may also function in homologous recombination-repair pathways.
Cartwright
R
R
Medical Research Council, Radiation and Genome Stability Unit, Harwell, Oxfordshire OX11 0RD, UK.
Dunn
A M
AM
Simpson
P J
PJ
Tambini
C E
CE
Thacker
J
J
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D016384:Consensus Sequence; D004254:DNA Nucleotidyltransferases / Q000235:genetics; D004260:DNA Repair / Q000235:genetics*; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008322:Mammals; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D005810:Multigene Family; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D051135:Rad51 Recombinase; D011938:Rec A Recombinases / Q000235:genetics*; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000737:chemistry; D011995:Recombination, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid
D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D004254:DNA Nucleotidyltransferases; C495153:RAD51 protein, human; D051135:Rad51 Recombinase; C495154:Rad51 protein, mouse; D011938:Rec A Recombinases