University of Leicester
Browse

Mobile D-loops are a preferred substrate for the Bloom’s syndrome helicase

Download (652.24 kB)
journal contribution
posted on 2010-11-22, 11:40 authored by Csanád Z. Bachrati, Rhona H. Borts, Ian D. Hickson
The Bloom’s syndrome helicase, BLM, is a member of the highly conserved RecQ family, and possesses both DNA unwinding and DNA strand annealing activities. BLM also promotes branch migration of Holliday junctions. One role for BLM is to act in conjunction with topoisomerase IIIa to process homologous recombination (HR) intermediates containing a double Holliday junction by a process termed dissolution. However, several lines of evidence suggest that BLM may also act early in one or more of the recombination pathways to eliminate illegitimate or aberrantly paired DNA joint molecules. We have investigated whether BLM can disrupt DNA displacement loops (D-loops), which represent the initial strand invasion step of HR. We show that mobile D-loops created by the RecA recombinase are a highly preferred substrate for BLM with the invading strand being displaced from the duplex. We have identified structural features of the D-loop that determine the efficiency with which BLM promotes D-loop dissociation. We discuss these results in the context of models for the role of BLM as an ‘anti-recombinase’.

History

Citation

Nucleic Acids Research, 2006, 34(8), pp. 2269-2279.

Published in

Nucleic Acids Research

Publisher

Oxford University Press

issn

0305-1048

eissn

1362-4962

Copyright date

2006

Available date

2010-11-22

Publisher version

http://nar.oxfordjournals.org/content/34/8/2269

Language

en

Usage metrics

    University of Leicester Publications

    Categories

    No categories selected

    Keywords

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC