The recA protein of E. coli promotes a DNA strand exchange reaction in vitro that provides a convenient molecular model for the central steps in homologous recombination and recombinational repair. The primary goal of this proposal is to understand the mechanism of this reaction. Major aspects of the reaction to be studied include: (a) the structure of a putative 3-stranded DNA pairing intermediate, (b) the molecular role of ATP hydrolysis, and (c) the molecular function of the acidic carboxyl-terminus of the recA protein. As part of the effort to examine the role of ATP hydrolysis, a yeast protein that promotes DNA strand exchange without ATP will also be examined. The project should offer insights into a novel DNA structure, cellular energy transductions, and broader questions about the repair function of homologous recombination. The health-relatedness aspects of the work concern the implications for recombinational DNA repair processes in the cell. Recombinational repair is the cellular first line of defense against several classes of potentially mutagenic (and thereby carcinogenic) DNA lesions. These include double-strand breaks, double-strand crosslinks, and lesions left in a single-strand gap after replication bypass. The recombinational repair function of recA and other proteins involved in homologous recombination has received inadequate attention. The project may also offer insights into recombination mechanisms that could facilitate the development of safer and more efficient methods for gene therapy.
| Stanage, Tyler H; Page, Asher N; Cox, Michael M (2017) DNA flap creation by the RarA/MgsA protein of Escherichia coli. Nucleic Acids Res 45:2724-2735 |
| Lewis, Jacob S; Spenkelink, Lisanne M; Jergic, Slobodan et al. (2017) Single-molecule visualization of fast polymerase turnover in the bacterial replisome. Elife 6: |
| Chen, Stefanie H; Byrne-Nash, Rose T; Cox, Michael M (2016) Escherichia coli RadD Protein Functionally Interacts with the Single-stranded DNA-binding Protein. J Biol Chem 291:20779-86 |
| Bakhlanova, Irina V; Dudkina, Alexandra V; Wood, Elizabeth A et al. (2016) DNA Metabolism in Balance: Rapid Loss of a RecA-Based Hyperrec Phenotype. PLoS One 11:e0154137 |
| Jaszczur, Malgorzata; Bertram, Jeffrey G; Robinson, Andrew et al. (2016) Mutations for Worse or Better: Low-Fidelity DNA Synthesis by SOS DNA Polymerase V Is a Tightly Regulated Double-Edged Sword. Biochemistry 55:2309-18 |
| Ronayne, Erin A; Wan, Y C Serena; Boudreau, Beth A et al. (2016) P1 Ref Endonuclease: A Molecular Mechanism for Phage-Enhanced Antibiotic Lethality. PLoS Genet 12:e1005797 |
| Leite, Wellington C; Galvão, Carolina W; Saab, Sérgio C et al. (2016) Structural and Functional Studies of H. seropedicae RecA Protein - Insights into the Polymerization of RecA Protein as Nucleoprotein Filament. PLoS One 11:e0159871 |
| Gruber, Angela J; Olsen, Tayla M; Dvorak, Rachel H et al. (2015) Function of the N-terminal segment of the RecA-dependent nuclease Ref. Nucleic Acids Res 43:1795-803 |
| Robinson, Andrew; McDonald, John P; Caldas, Victor E A et al. (2015) Regulation of Mutagenic DNA Polymerase V Activation in Space and Time. PLoS Genet 11:e1005482 |
| Kim, Taejin; Chitteni-Pattu, Sindhu; Cox, Benjamin L et al. (2015) Directed Evolution of RecA Variants with Enhanced Capacity for Conjugational Recombination. PLoS Genet 11:e1005278 |
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