Structural features of single-stranded integron cassette attC sites and their role in strand selection.

ABSTRACT: We recently showed that cassette integration and deletion in integron platforms were occurring through unconventional site-specific recombination reactions involving only the bottom strand of attC sites. The lack of sequence conservation among attC sites led us to hypothesize that sequence-independent structural recognition determinants must exist within attC sites. The structural data obtained from a synaptic complex of the Vibrio cholerae integrase with the bottom strand of an attC site has shown the importance of extra helical bases (EHB) inside the stem-loop structure formed from the bottom strand. Here, we systematically determined the contribution of three structural elements common to all known single-stranded attC site recombination substrates (the EHBs, the unpaired central spacer

SUBMITTER: Bouvier M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2727003 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature