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Related Experiment Videos

The bacterial replicative helicase DnaB evolved from a RecA duplication.

D D Leipe1, L Aravind, N V Grishin

  • 1National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda Maryland 20894 USA.

Genome Research
|January 25, 2000
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

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Bacterial DnaB helicase is structurally similar to RecA recombinases. This suggests replication fork helicases evolved independently in bacteria and eukaryotes, with DnaB potentially introduced via phage vectors.

Area of Science:

  • Molecular Biology
  • Biochemistry
  • Evolutionary Biology

Background:

  • RecA/Rad51/DCM1 proteins are vital ATP-dependent recombinases in DNA repair and recombination across life.
  • DnaB functions as the essential replication fork helicase in all bacteria.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the evolutionary relationship between bacterial DnaB helicase and RecA/Rad51/DMC1 recombinase families.
  • To identify and characterize DnaB homologs in eukaryotes and elucidate their potential functions and origins.

Main Methods:

  • Sequence similarity analysis comparing DnaB with RecA, Rad51/DMC1, Sms, and KaiC ATPases.
  • Structural comparison of conserved domains between E. coli RecA, phage T7 DnaB, and related proteins.
  • Bioinformatic searches to identify DnaB homologs in various eukaryotic organisms.

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Main Results:

  • DnaB shares significant sequence and structural similarity with RecA/Rad51/DMC1, particularly in ATP- and DNA-binding domains.
  • A previously undetected DnaB homolog was found in animals, plants, and Plasmodium, potentially functioning in mitochondria.
  • Eukaryotic DnaB homologs exhibit domain organization similar to bacteriophage primase-helicases, suggesting horizontal gene transfer.

Conclusions:

  • Bacterial DnaB likely originated from a RecA-like ancestor after the divergence of Bacteria from Archaea/Eukaryotes.
  • Replication fork helicases in Bacteria and Archaea/Eukaryota appear to have evolved independently.
  • Horizontal gene transfer via phage vectors may explain the presence of DnaB-like proteins in eukaryotic genomes.