An Overview of Tyrosine Site-specific Recombination: From an Flp Perspective.
Tyrosine site-specific recombinases (YRs) are widely distributed among prokaryotes and their viruses, and were thought to be confined to the budding yeast lineage among eukaryotes. However, YR-harboring retrotransposons (the DIRS and PAT families) and DNA transposons (Cryptons) have been identified in a variety of eukaryotes. The YRs utilize a common chemical mechanism, analogous to that of type IB topoisomerases, to bring about a plethora of genetic rearrangements with important physiological consequences in their respective biological contexts. A subset of the tyrosine recombinases has provided model systems for analyzing the chemical mechanisms and conformational features of the recombination reaction using chemical, biochemical, topological, structural, and single molecule-biophysical approaches. YRs with simple reaction requirements have been utilized to bring about programmed DNA rearrangements for addressing fundamental questions in developmental biology. They have also been employed to trace the topological features of DNA within high-order DNA interactions established by protein machines. The directed evolution of altered specificity YRs, combined with their spatially and temporally regulated expression, heralds their emergence as vital tools in genome engineering projects with wide-ranging biotechnological and medical applications.
Department of Molecular Biosciences, UT Austin, Austin, TX 78712.
Makkuni
M
Jayaram
Department of Molecular Biosciences, UT Austin, Austin, TX 78712.
Chien-Hui
CH
Ma
Department of Molecular Biosciences, UT Austin, Austin, TX 78712.
Aashiq H
AH
Kachroo
Department of Molecular Biosciences, UT Austin, Austin, TX 78712.
Paul A
PA
Rowley
Centre of Molecular and Macromolecular Studies, Polish Academy of Sciences, Department of Bio-organic Chemistry, Lodz, Poland.
Piotr
P
Guga
Department of Life Sciences and Institute of Genome Sciences, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei 112, Taiwan.
Hsui-Fang
HF
Fan
School of Biosciences, Louisiana Tech University, Ruston, LA 71272.
Yuri
Y
Voziyanov
D001419:Bacteria / Q000737:chemistry / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D004254:DNA Nucleotidyltransferases / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D011995:Recombination, Genetic; D004718:Saccharomycetales / Q000737:chemistry / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics; D014443:Tyrosine / Q000378:metabolism*
D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D005656:Fungal Proteins; D014443:Tyrosine; D004254:DNA Nucleotidyltransferases; C045119:FLP recombinase