title: RecA family proteins in archaea: RadA and its cousins.
abstract: Recombinases of the RecA family are essential for homologous recombination and underpin genome stability, by promoting the repair of double-stranded DNA breaks and the rescue of collapsed DNA replication forks. Until now, our understanding of homologous recombination has relied on studies of bacterial and eukaryotic model organisms. Archaea provide new opportunities to study how recombination operates in a lineage distinct from bacteria and eukaryotes. In the present paper, we focus on RadA, the archaeal RecA family recombinase, and its homologues in archaea and other domains. On the basis of phylogenetic analysis, we propose that a family of archaeal proteins with a single RecA domain, which are currently annotated as KaiC, be renamed aRadC.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Genetics, School of Biology, University of Nottingham, Queen's Medical Centre, Nottingham NG7 2UH, UK.
authors.forename: Sam
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Haldenby
authors.forename: Malcolm F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: White
authors.forename: Thorsten
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Allers
mesh_terms: D001105:Archaea / Q000378:metabolism*; D019843:Archaeal Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D010802:Phylogeny; D051135:Rad51 Recombinase / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D011938:Rec A Recombinases / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
chemical_list: D019843:Archaeal Proteins; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; C117252:RadA protein, archaeal; D051135:Rad51 Recombinase; D011938:Rec A Recombinases