The Saccharomyces cerevisiae Shu complex, consisting of Shu1, Shu2, Csm2 and Psy3, promotes error-free homologous recombination (HR) by an unknown mechanism. Recent structural analysis of two Shu proteins, Csm2 and Psy3, has revealed that these proteins are Rad51 paralogues and mediate DNA binding of this complex. We show in vitro that the Csm2-Psy3 heterodimer preferentially binds synthetic fo...

RAD51 promotes homology-directed repair (HDR), replication fork reversal, and stalled fork protection. Defects in these functions cause genomic instability and tumorigenesis but also generate hypersensitivity to cancer therapeutics. Here we describe the identification of RADX as an RPA-like, single-strand DNA binding protein. RADX is recruited to replication forks, where it prevents fork collap...

Rad51 is a key enzyme involved in DNA double-strand break repair by homologous recombination. Here, we show that in response to DNA damage, budding yeast Rad51 is phosphorylated on Ser 192 in a manner that is primarily mediated by the DNA-damage-responsive protein kinase Mec1. We show that mutating Rad51 Ser 192 to Ala or Glu confers hypersensitivity to DNA damage and homologous-recombination d...

The human tumor suppressor protein BRCA2 plays a key role in recombinational DNA repair. BRCA2 recruits RAD51 to sites of DNA damage through interaction with eight conserved motifs of approximately 35 amino acids, the BRC repeats; however, the specific function of each repeat remains unclear. Here, we investigated the function of the individual BRC repeats by systematically analyzing their effe...

In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the Rad52 protein plays a role in both RAD51-dependent and RAD51-independent recombination pathways. We characterized a rad52 mutant, rad52-329, which lacks the C-terminal Rad51-interacting domain, and studied its role in RAD51-independent recombination. The rad52-329 mutant is completely defective in mating-type switching, but partially proficient in recombination ...

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a leading cause of chronic liver disease affecting over 170 million people worldwide. Chronic infection with HCV progresses to liver fibrosis, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma. HCV exploits host cellular factors for viral propagation. To investigate the cellular factors required for HCV propagation, we screened a siRNA library targeting human cell cycle genes u...

Recombination is important for the repair of DNA damage and for chromosome segregation during meiosis; it has also been shown to participate in the regulation of cell proliferation. In the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, recombination requires products of the RAD52 epistasis group. The Rad51 protein associates with the Rad51, Rad52, Rad54, and Rad55 proteins to form a dynamic complex. We descri...