Direct and inverted repeats elicit genetic instability by both exploiting and eluding DNA double-strand break repair systems in mycobacteria.

ABSTRACT: Repetitive DNA sequences with the potential to form alternative DNA conformations, such as slipped structures and cruciforms, can induce genetic instability by promoting replication errors and by serving as a substrate for DNA repair proteins, which may lead to DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs). However, the contribution of each of the DSB repair pathways, homologous recombination (HR), non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ) and single-strand annealing (SSA), to this sort of genetic instability is not fully understood. Herein, we assessed the genome-wide distribution of repetitive DNA sequences in the Mycobacterium smegmatis, Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Escherichia coli genomes, and determined the types and frequencies of genetic instability induced by direct and inverted repeats, both in the

SUBMITTER: Wojcik EA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3519483 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature