Mapping the λ Integrase bridges in the nucleoprotein Holliday junction intermediates of viral integrative and excisive recombination.

ABSTRACT: The site-specific recombinase encoded by bacteriophage λ [λ Integrase (Int)] is responsible for integrating and excising the viral chromosome into and out of the chromosome of its Escherichia coli host. In contrast to the other well-studied and highly exploited tyrosine recombinase family members, such as Cre and Flp, Int carries out a reaction that is highly directional, tightly regulated, and depends on an ensemble of accessory DNA bending proteins acting on 240 bp of DNA encoding 16 protein binding sites. This additional complexity enables two pathways, integrative and excisive recombination, whose opposite, and effectively irreversible, directions are dictated by different physiological and environmental signals. Int recombinase is a heterobivalent DNA binding protein that binds via it

SUBMITTER: Tong W 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4151763 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature