Both the bacterial RecA protein and the eukaryotic Rad51 protein form helical nucleoprotein filaments on DNA that catalyze strand transfer between two homologous DNA molecules. However, only the ATP-binding cores of these proteins have been conserved, and this same core is also found within helicases and the F1-ATPase. The C-terminal domain of the RecA protein forms lobes within the helical Rec...

In vitro, the human Rad51 protein (hRad51) promotes homologous pairing and strand exchange reactions suggestive of a key role in genetic recombination. To analyse its role in this process, polyclonal antibodies raised against hRad51 were used to study the distribution of Rad51 in human and mouse spermatocytes during meiosis I. In human spermatocytes, hRad51 was found to form discrete nuclear fo...

Homologous recombination in Trypanosoma brucei is used for moving variant surface glycoprotein (VSG) genes into expression sites during immune evasion by antigenic variation. A major route for such VSG switching is gene conversion reactions in which RAD51, a universally conserved recombinase, catalyses homology-directed strand exchange. In any eukaryote, RAD51-directed strand exchange in vivo i...

The single-stranded DNA (ssDNA)-binding protein replication protein A (RPA) is essential for both DNA replication and recombination. Chromatin immunoprecipitation techniques were used to visualize the kinetics and extent of RPA binding following induction of a double-strand break (DSB) and during its repair by homologous recombination in yeast. RPA assembles at the HO endonuclease-cut MAT locus...

Mutations in RAD51 have recently been linked to human Congenital Mirror Movements (CMM), a developmental disorder of the motor system. The only gene previously linked to CMM encodes the Netrin-1 receptor DCC, which is important for formation of corticospinal and callosal axon tracts. Thus, we hypothesised that Rad51 has a novel role in Netrin-1-mediated axon development. In mouse primary motor ...

The breast and ovarian cancer suppressor protein BRCA2 controls the RAD51 recombinase in reactions that lead to homologous DNA recombination (HDR). BRCA2 binds RAD51 via eight conserved BRC repeat motifs of approximately 35 amino acids, each with a varying capacity to bind RAD51. BRC repeats both promote and inhibit RAD51 assembly on different DNA substrates to regulate HDR, but the structural ...

Patients with glioblastoma die from local relapse despite surgery and high-dose radiotherapy. Resistance to radiotherapy is thought to be due to efficient DNA double-strand break (DSB) repair in stem-like cells able to survive DNA damage and repopulate the tumor. We used clinical samples and patient-derived glioblastoma stem cells (GSCs) to confirm that the DSB repair protein RAD51 is highly ex...

RecQ5 is a member of the RecQ family of DNA helicases. There are 5 RecQ members in humans. Defects in 3 of them, i.e., BLM, WRN, and RTS, cause Bloom, Werner, and Rothmund-Thomson syndromes, respectively. RECQL1 and RECQL5 have not been associated with any human disease, and their precise roles are unknown. Our previous study suggests that the lack of RecQ5, which is the Drosophila homolog of R...

Rad51 protein, involved in homologous recombination, is overexpressed in a variety of tumors, and its expression is correlated with a poor prognosis. Here we propose to exploit the overexpression of Rad51 in cancer cells to design a Rad51 promoter-based anticancer therapy. On average, Rad51 mRNA and protein levels are increased in cancer cells four- and sixfold, respectively. Serendipitously, w...