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. 1985 Jun;162(3):979–984. doi: 10.1128/jb.162.3.979-984.1985

Heteroduplex DNA mismatch repair system of Streptococcus pneumoniae: cloning and expression of the hexA gene.

T S Balganesh, S A Lacks
PMCID: PMC215871  PMID: 3997786

Abstract

Mutations affecting heteroduplex DNA mismatch repair in Streptococcus pneumoniae were localized in two genes, hexA and hexB, by fractionation of restriction fragments carrying mutant alleles. A fragment containing the hexA4 allele was cloned in the S. pneumoniae cloning system, and the hexA+ allele was introduced into the recombinant plasmid by chromosomal facilitation of plasmid transfer. Subcloning localized the functional hexA gene to a 3.5-kilobase segment of the cloned pneumococcal DNA. The product of this gene was shown in Bacillus subtilis minicells to be a polypeptide with an Mr of 86,000. Two mutant alleles of hexA showed partial expression of the repair system when present in multicopy plasmids. A model for mismatch repair, which depends on the interaction of two protein components to recognize the mismatched base pair and excise a segment of DNA between strand breaks surrounding the mismatch, is proposed.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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