Multiple Holliday junction resolving enzyme activities in the Crenarchaeota and Euryarchaeota.
Holliday junction resolving enzymes are required by all life forms that catalyse homologous recombination, including all cellular organisms and many bacterial and eukaryotic viruses. Here we report the identification of three distinct Holliday junction resolving enzyme activities present in two highly divergent archaeal species. Both Sulfolobus and Pyrococcus share the Hjc activity, and in addition possess unique secondary activities (Hje and Hjr). We propose by analogy with the two other domains of life that the latter enzymes are viral in origin, suggesting the widespread existence of archaeal viruses that rely on homologous recombination as part of their life cycle.
Kvaratskhelia
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Centre for Biomolecular Science, St Andrews University, Fife KY16 9ST, North Haugh, UK.
Wardleworth
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BN
White
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MF
D001105:Archaea / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics*; D002845:Chromatography; D004247:DNA / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D004706:Endodeoxyribonucleases / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000378:metabolism*; D045565:Holliday Junction Resolvases; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D020027:Pyrococcus furiosus / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics; D013379:Substrate Specificity; D016944:Sulfolobus / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics
D004247:DNA; D004706:Endodeoxyribonucleases; D045565:Holliday Junction Resolvases