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Updated: Aug 23, 2026

Real-time Observation of the DNA Strand Exchange Reaction Mediated by Rad51
Published on: February 13, 2019
Strand exchange activity of human recombination protein Rad52
Jaspal K Kumar1, Ravindra C Gupta
1Department of Biological Sciences, University at Albany, State University of New York, 1400 Washington Avenue, Albany, NY 12222, USA.
Abstract:
Repair of double-strand breaks is essential for the maintenance of genome integrity and cell survival. In eukaryotes, double-strand-break repair by homologous recombination requires the Rad52 group of proteins. Human Rad52 protein (HsRad52)-mediated annealing of complementary strands has been studied in detail, but little has been reported on the recombinase activities of HsRad52. For this study, we purified HsRad52 from Escherichia coli. DNase I protection experiments indicated that HsRad52 binds preferentially to single-stranded DNA and protects it against digestion by DNase I. HsRad52 catalyzed D-loop formation in superhelical DNA, as well as strand exchange among oligonucleotide substrates. The formation of a stoichiometric complex between HsRad52 and single-stranded DNA was found to be critical for strand exchange activity, and the coating of both the single- and double-stranded oligonucleotides inhibited the exchange reaction.
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