Abstract
RecA protein was found to catalyze the dissociation of the strands of a DNA substrate consisting of a 20-nucleotide primer annealed to circular single-stranded M13mp DNA. The strand separation reaction requires ATP hydrolysis and the presence of single-stranded DNA flanking the duplex DNA region to be unwound. RecA-catalyzed strand separation is effective only for very short duplexes, not exceeding 30 bp, and is not stimulated by single-stranded DNA-binding protein. These results are consistent with the ability of recA protein to disrupt regions of secondary structure in single-stranded DNA and to incorporate large non-homologies into heteroduplex DNA.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 3025-3030 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | EMBO Journal |
Volume | 4 |
Issue number | 11 |
Publication status | Published - Nov 1985 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Cell Biology
- Genetics