Mizuuchi K
Laboratory of Molecular Biology, National Institute of Diabetes, and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
Genes Cells. 1997 Jan;2(1):1-12. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-2443.1997.970297.x.
Site-specific DNA rearrangement reactions are widespread among organisms. They are used, for example, by vertebrates to boost immune response diversity, and in turn by parasitic organisms to evade the host immune system by surface antigen switching. Parasitic genetic elements ubiquitous to most organisms invade new host genomic sites by a variety of types of site-specific recombination. Polynucleotidyl transfer reactions are central to these DNA recombination reactions. The recombinase of each reaction system that 'catalyses' such chemical reactions at specific DNA sites are apparently designed to accomplish unique DNA geometrical specificity, or delicate control over the extent or direction of the reaction, with the sacrifice of protein turnover. Here we discuss our current understanding of several issues that relate to the polynucleotidyl transfer steps in several of the better studied site-specific recombination reactions.
位点特异性DNA重排反应在生物体中广泛存在。例如，脊椎动物利用它们来增强免疫反应的多样性，而寄生生物则通过表面抗原转换来逃避宿主免疫系统。大多数生物中普遍存在的寄生遗传元件通过多种类型的位点特异性重组侵入新的宿主基因组位点。多核苷酸转移反应是这些DNA重组反应的核心。每个反应系统的重组酶在特定DNA位点“催化”此类化学反应，显然是为了实现独特的DNA几何特异性，或对反应程度或方向进行精细控制，而牺牲了蛋白质周转率。在这里，我们讨论了我们目前对几个与一些研究较好的位点特异性重组反应中的多核苷酸转移步骤相关问题的理解。
