Skip to main content
PMC home page
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1996 Apr 2;93(7):3094–3098. doi: 10.1073/pnas.93.7.3094

RecA protein stimulates homologous recombination in plants.

B Reiss 1, M Klemm 1, H Kosak 1, J Schell 1
PMCID: PMC39767  PMID: 8610174

Abstract

A number of RecA-like proteins have been found in eukaryotic organisms. We demonstrate that the prokaryotic recombination protein RecA itself is capable of interacting with genomic homologous DNA in somatic plant cells. Resistance to the DNA crosslinking agent mitomycin C requires homologous recombination as well as excision repair activity. Tobacco protoplasts expressing a nucleus-targeted RecA protein were at least three times as efficient as wild-type cells in repairing mitomycin C-induced damage. Moreover, homologous recombination at a defined locus carrying an endogenous nuclear marker gene was stimulated at least 10-fold in transgenic plant cells expressing nucleus-targeted RecA. The increase in resistance to mitomycin C and the stimulation of intrachromosomal recombination demonstrate that Escherichia coli RecA protein is functional in genomic homologous recombination in plants, especially when targeted to the plant nucleus.

Full text

PDF
3095

Selected References

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

  1. Bishop D. K. RecA homologs Dmc1 and Rad51 interact to form multiple nuclear complexes prior to meiotic chromosome synapsis. Cell. 1994 Dec 16;79(6):1081–1092. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(94)90038-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Borowy-Borowski H., Lipman R., Tomasz M. Recognition between mitomycin C and specific DNA sequences for cross-link formation. Biochemistry. 1990 Mar 27;29(12):2999–3006. doi: 10.1021/bi00464a016. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Dingwall C., Laskey R. A. Protein import into the cell nucleus. Annu Rev Cell Biol. 1986;2:367–390. doi: 10.1146/annurev.cb.02.110186.002055. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Dunderdale H. J., West S. C. Recombination genes and proteins. Curr Opin Genet Dev. 1994 Apr;4(2):221–228. doi: 10.1016/s0959-437x(05)80048-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Guerineau F., Brooks L., Meadows J., Lucy A., Robinson C., Mullineaux P. Sulfonamide resistance gene for plant transformation. Plant Mol Biol. 1990 Jul;15(1):127–136. doi: 10.1007/BF00017730. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. IYER V. N., SZYBALSKI W. A MOLECULAR MECHANISM OF MITOMYCIN ACTION: LINKING OF COMPLEMENTARY DNA STRANDS. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1963 Aug;50:355–362. doi: 10.1073/pnas.50.2.355. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Kalderon D., Roberts B. L., Richardson W. D., Smith A. E. A short amino acid sequence able to specify nuclear location. Cell. 1984 Dec;39(3 Pt 2):499–509. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(84)90457-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Kowalczykowski S. C., Eggleston A. K. Homologous pairing and DNA strand-exchange proteins. Annu Rev Biochem. 1994;63:991–1043. doi: 10.1146/annurev.bi.63.070194.005015. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Lebel E. G., Masson J., Bogucki A., Paszkowski J. Stress-induced intrachromosomal recombination in plant somatic cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1993 Jan 15;90(2):422–426. doi: 10.1073/pnas.90.2.422. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Ogawa T., Yu X., Shinohara A., Egelman E. H. Similarity of the yeast RAD51 filament to the bacterial RecA filament. Science. 1993 Mar 26;259(5103):1896–1899. doi: 10.1126/science.8456314. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Peterhans A., Schlüpmann H., Basse C., Paszkowski J. Intrachromosomal recombination in plants. EMBO J. 1990 Nov;9(11):3437–3445. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1990.tb07551.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Pietrzak M., Shillito R. D., Hohn T., Potrykus I. Expression in plants of two bacterial antibiotic resistance genes after protoplast transformation with a new plant expression vector. Nucleic Acids Res. 1986 Jul 25;14(14):5857–5868. doi: 10.1093/nar/14.14.5857. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Roca A. I., Cox M. M. The RecA protein: structure and function. Crit Rev Biochem Mol Biol. 1990;25(6):415–456. doi: 10.3109/10409239009090617. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Rupp W. D., Howard-Flanders P. Discontinuities in the DNA synthesized in an excision-defective strain of Escherichia coli following ultraviolet irradiation. J Mol Biol. 1968 Jan 28;31(2):291–304. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(68)90445-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Sancar A., Rupp W. D. Physical map of the recA gene. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1979 Jul;76(7):3144–3148. doi: 10.1073/pnas.76.7.3144. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Shinohara A., Ogawa H., Ogawa T. Rad51 protein involved in repair and recombination in S. cerevisiae is a RecA-like protein. Cell. 1992 May 1;69(3):457–470. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(92)90447-k. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Silver P. A. How proteins enter the nucleus. Cell. 1991 Feb 8;64(3):489–497. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(91)90233-o. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Sinden R. R., Cole R. S. Repair of cross-linked DNA and survival of Escherichia coli treated with psoralen and light: effects of mutations influencing genetic recombination and DNA metabolism. J Bacteriol. 1978 Nov;136(2):538–547. doi: 10.1128/jb.136.2.538-547.1978. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Sung P. Catalysis of ATP-dependent homologous DNA pairing and strand exchange by yeast RAD51 protein. Science. 1994 Aug 26;265(5176):1241–1243. doi: 10.1126/science.8066464. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Terasawa M., Shinohara A., Hotta Y., Ogawa H., Ogawa T. Localization of RecA-like recombination proteins on chromosomes of the lily at various meiotic stages. Genes Dev. 1995 Apr 15;9(8):925–934. doi: 10.1101/gad.9.8.925. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America are provided here courtesy of National Academy of Sciences

RESOURCES