Published in Nucleic acids research
Rad54 protein is a key member of the RAD52 epistasis group required for homologous recombination in eukaryotes. Rad54 is a duplex DNA translocase that remodels both DNA and protein-DNA complexes, and functions at multiple steps in the recombination process. Here we use biochemical criteria to demonstrate the existence of this important protein in a...
Published in Nucleic Acids Research
DNA strand exchange, the central step of homologous recombination, is considered to occur approximately independently of DNA sequence content. However, certain prokaryotic and eukaryotic genomic loci display either an enhanced or reduced frequency of genetic exchange. Here we show that the Homo sapiens DNA strand exchange protein, HsRad51, shows a ...
Published in Nucleic Acids Research
We have developed a new assay to characterize the double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) binding properties of RecA protein. This assay is based on measurement of changes in the fluorescence of a 4 ,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI)-dsDNA complex upon RecA protein binding. The binding of RecA protein to a complex of DAPI and dsDNA results in displacement of t...
Published in Nucleic Acids Research
We have developed a new helicase assay that overcomes many limitations of other assays used to measure this activity. This continuous, kinetic assay is based on the displacement of fluorescent dyes from dsDNA upon DNA unwinding. These ligands exhibit significant fluorescence enhancement when bound to duplex nucleic acids and serve as the reporter m...
