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. 1985 Nov;4(11):3025–3030. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1985.tb04039.x

E. coli recA protein possesses a strand separating activity on short duplex DNAs.

M Bianchi, B Riboli, G Magni
PMCID: PMC554614  PMID: 3905387

Abstract

RecA protein was found to catalyze the dissociation of the strands of a DNA substrate consisting of a 20-nucleotide primer annealed to circular single-stranded M13mp DNA. The strand separation reaction requires ATP hydrolysis and the presence of single-stranded DNA flanking the duplex DNA region to be unwound. RecA-catalyzed strand separation is effective only for very short duplexes, not exceeding 30 bp, and is not stimulated by single-stranded DNA-binding protein. These results are consistent with the ability of recA protein to disrupt regions of secondary structure in single-stranded DNA and to incorporate large non-homologies into heteroduplex DNA.

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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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