Stasiak A, Egelman E H, Howard-Flanders P
Institute for Cell Biology, E.T.H. Honggerberg, Zurich, Switzerland.
J Mol Biol. 1988 Aug 5;202(3):659-62. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(88)90293-8.
The RecA protein of Escherichia coli has been used in vitro to mediate a strand-exchange reaction between homologous DNA molecules. A three-dimensional reconstruction of a RecA filament on double-stranded DNA has been previously determined from electron micrographs, and the reconstruction displays a clear axial polarity. The RecA-mediated strand-exchange reaction between a double-stranded DNA and a homologous single-stranded DNA that is complexed with a RecA helical polymer proceeds with a known polarity. Using image analysis of electron micrographs, we have determined the relation between the structural polarity of RecA filaments and the 3' and 5' polarity of single-stranded DNA. Thus, the structural polarity of RecA filaments can now be related to the direction in which the RecA-mediated strand-exchange reaction advances along the complexed single-stranded DNA.