Purification and characterization of the RecA protein from Neisseria gonorrhoeae.

ABSTRACT: The strict human pathogen Neisseria gonorrhoeae is the only causative agent of the sexually transmitted infection gonorrhea. The recA gene from N. gonorrhoeae is essential for DNA repair, natural DNA transformation, and pilin antigenic variation, all processes that are important for the pathogenesis and persistence of N. gonorrhoeae in the human population. To understand the biochemical features of N. gonorrhoeae RecA (RecA(Ng)), we overexpressed and purified the RecA(Ng) and SSB(Ng) proteins and compared their activities to those of the well-characterized E. coli RecA and SSB proteins in vitro. We observed that RecA(Ng) promoted more strand exchange at early time points than RecA(Ec) through DNA homologous substrates, and exhibited the highest ATPase activity of any RecA protein character

SUBMITTER: Stohl EA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3040777 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature