RAD51, a eukaryotic recombinase, catalyzes homologous-pairing and strand-exchange reactions, which are essential steps in homologous recombination and recombinational repair of double strand breaks. On the other hand, human PSF was originally identified as a component of spliceosomes, and its multiple functions in RNA processing, transcription and DNA recombination were subsequently revealed. I...

In previous studies of the loss of heterozygosity (LOH), we analyzed a hemizygous URA3 marker on chromosome III in S. cerevisiae and showed that homologous recombination is involved in processes that lead to LOH in multiple ways, including allelic recombination, chromosome size alterations, and chromosome loss. To investigate the role of homologous recombination more precisely, we examined LOH ...

DNA double-strand breaks can be repaired by non-homologous end-joining or homologous recombination. Which pathway is used depends on the balance between tumor suppressors 53BP1 and BRCA1 availability of an undamaged template for homology-directed repair. How cells switch from a 53BP1-dominated to BRCA1-governed recombination response as they progress through cell cycle incompletely understood. ...

The rapid evolution of influenza viruses occurs both clonally and non-clonally through a variety of genetic mechanisms and selection pressures. The non-clonal evolution of influenza viruses comprises relatively frequent reassortment among gene segments and a more rarely reported process of non-homologous RNA recombination. Homologous RNA recombination within segments has been proposed as a thir...

Legionella pneumophila is an environmental bacterium and the causative agent of Legionnaires' disease. Previous genomic studies have shown that recombination accounts for a high proportion (>96%) of diversity within several major disease-associated sequence types (STs) of L. pneumophila. This suggests that recombination represents a potentially important force shaping adaptation and virulence. ...

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Colloquium on the roles of homologous recombination in DNA replication are summarized. Current findings in experimental systems ranging from bacteriophages to mammalian cell lines substantiate the idea that homologous recombination is a system supporting DNA replication when either the template DNA is damaged or the replication machinery malfuncti...

In metazoans, the mechanism by which DNA is synthesized during homologous recombination repair of double-strand breaks is poorly understood. Specifically, the identities of the polymerase(s) that carry out repair synthesis and how they are recruited to repair sites are unclear. Here, we have investigated the roles of several different polymerases during homologous recombination repair in Drosop...

Broken DNA can be repaired by homologous recombination mechanisms, which initially align both ends of a DNA double-strand break (DSB) with a homologous repair template. Particularly in the context of a crowded eukaryotic nucleus, it remains mysterious how the two ends of a broken DNA molecule coordinate their actions to identify an appropriate template and initiate repair. In this issue, Brown ...

DNA homologous recombination is fundamental process by which two homologous DNA molecules exchange the genetic information for the generation of genetic diversity and maintain the genomic integrity. DNA recombinases, a special group of proteins bind to single stranded DNA (ssDNA) nonspecifically and search the double stranded DNA (dsDNA) molecule for a stretch of DNA that is homologous with the...