Mismatch Repair in Bacteria and Eukaryotes Mismatch repair in the bacterium Escherichia coli is initiated when a homodimer of MutS binds as an asymmetric clamp to DNA containing a variety of base-base and insertion-deletion mismatches. The MutL homodimer then couples MutS recognition to the signal that distinguishes between the template and nascent DNA strands. In E. coli, the lack of adenine m...