title: Xer Site-Specific Recombination: Promoting Vertical and Horizontal Transmission of Genetic Information.
abstract: Two related tyrosine recombinases, XerC and XerD, are encoded in the genome of most bacteria where they serve to resolve dimers of circular chromosomes by the addition of a crossover at a specific site, dif. From a structural and biochemical point of view they belong to the Cre resolvase family of tyrosine recombinases. Correspondingly, they are exploited for the resolution of multimers of numerous plasmids. In addition, they are exploited by mobile DNA elements to integrate into the genome of their host. Exploitation of Xer is likely to be advantageous to mobile elements because the conservation of the Xer recombinases and of the sequence of their chromosomal target should permit a quite easy extension of their host range. However, it requires means to overcome the cellular mechanisms that normally restrict recombination to dif sites harbored by a chromosome dimer and, in the case of integrative mobile elements, to convert dedicated tyrosine resolvases into integrases.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Integrative Biology of the Cell (I2BC), Université Paris Saclay, CEA, CNRS, Université Paris Sud, 1 avenue de la Terrasse, 91198 Gif sur Yvette, France.
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Midonet
authors.affiliation: Institute for Integrative Biology of the Cell (I2BC), Université Paris Saclay, CEA, CNRS, Université Paris Sud, 1 avenue de la Terrasse, 91198 Gif sur Yvette, France.
authors.forename: Francois-Xavier
authors.initials: FX
authors.lastname: Barre
mesh_terms: D019426:Integrases / Q000378:metabolism*; D020071:Interspersed Repetitive Sequences; D011995:Recombination, Genetic
chemical_list: D019426:Integrases