Determinants of correct res site alignment in site-specific recombination by Tn3 resolvase

In site-specific recombination reactions catalyzed by Tn3 resolvase, the right and left arms of the res site are always religated to the correct partner. This poses the problem of how resolvase aligns the two sites correctly for the cleavage/religation reaction. We show that the "accessory"...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Genes & development 1990-12, Vol.4 (12B), p.2366-2375
Main Authors: BEDNARZ, A. L, BOOCOCK, M. R, SHERRATT, D. J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Base Sequence
Biological and medical sciences
Crossing Over, Genetic
Deoxyribonuclease I
DNA Transposable Elements
DNA, Bacterial - genetics
DNA, Bacterial - isolation & purification
Escherichia coli - genetics
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Genic rearrangement. Recombination. Transposable element
Models, Genetic
Molecular and cellular biology
Molecular genetics
Molecular Sequence Data
Nucleotidyltransferases - metabolism
Plasmids
Recombination, Genetic
Restriction Mapping
Transposases
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Summary:In site-specific recombination reactions catalyzed by Tn3 resolvase, the right and left arms of the res site are always religated to the correct partner. This poses the problem of how resolvase aligns the two sites correctly for the cleavage/religation reaction. We show that the "accessory" binding subsites II and III of res are important for correct alignment of the adjoining crossover subsite (subsite I). Deletion of subsites II and III from one of the two res sites removes a barrier to recombination between incorrectly aligned crossover subsites. Correct alignment does not require any DNA sequence asymmetry in the crossover subsite, DNA supercoiling, or covalent linkage of the two res sites. Our results suggest that correct subsite I alignment is determined by local, resolvase-mediated interactions of subsites II and III of both partners, consistent with a current model of the synapse. Surprisingly, the topological selectivity for intramolecular resolution in a supercoiled substrate does not require subsites II and III in both recombination partners.
ISSN:0890-9369
1549-5477
DOI:10.1101/gad.4.12b.2366