Enhancement of binding rate of RecA protein to DNA by carcinogenic benzo[a]pyrene derivatives and selective change of adduct conformation.

The association kinetics of RecA protein from Escherichia coli to DNA is strongly enhanced if even a minor fraction of DNA bases has been modified by a carcinogenic (+)-anti metabolite of benzo[a]pyrene (BPDE). The enhancement is much smaller with the less carcinogenic (-)-anti enantiomer of BPDE suggesting the possibility that the RecA protein binds selectively to the proto-oncogenic target. Most importantly, the binding of RecA to DNA modified with the latter enantiomer is found to give rise to a reorganization of this BPDE adduct from an intercalation site into a minor groove site. This indicates that the binding mechanism of RecA is via intercalation of some amino acid moiety, a discovery that could explain the approximately 50% contour length increase of the DNA within its fibrous complex with RecA.