Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 16, 2026

Mapping Bacterial Functional Networks and Pathways in Escherichia Coli using Synthetic Genetic Arrays
Published on: November 12, 2012
Is RecG a general guardian of the bacterial genome?
Christian J Rudolph1, Amy L Upton, Geoffrey S Briggs
1Institute of Genetics, University of Nottingham, Queen's Medical Centre, Nottingham, NG7 2UH, United Kingdom.
Abstract:
The RecG protein of Escherichia coli is a double-stranded DNA translocase that unwinds a variety of branched DNAs in vitro, including Holliday junctions, replication forks, D-loops and R-loops. Coupled with the reported pleiotropy of recG mutations, this broad range of potential targets has made it hard to pin down what the protein does in vivo, though roles in recombination and replication fork repair have been suggested. However, recent studies suggest that RecG provides a more general defence against pathological DNA replication. We have postulated that this is achieved through the ability of RecG to eliminate substrates that the replication restart protein, PriA, could otherwise exploit to re-replicate the chromosome. Without RecG, PriA triggers a cascade of events that interfere with the duplication and segregation of chromosomes. Here we review the studies that led us to this idea and to conclude that RecG may be both a specialist activity and a general guardian of the genome.
Related Concept Videos
Evolution of Microbial Genome
Genomic DNA in Prokaryotes
Genomic Diversity in Bacteria
Although bacterial genomes are much...
CRISPR and crRNAs
The CRISPR-Cas system stores a copy of foreign DNA in the host genome and uses it to identify the foreign DNA upon reinfection. CRISPR-Cas has three different...
Bacterial Transformation
The Central Dogma
RNA is the Missing Link Between DNA and Proteins
In the early 1900s, scientists discovered that DNA stores all the information needed for cellular functions and that proteins perform most of these functions. However, the mechanisms of converting genetic information into functional proteins remained unknown for many years. Initially, it was believed that a single gene is...
Transduction

