Rad51 and its meiotic homologIn most eukaryotic organisms, meiotic recombination is required for generation of genetic diversity and for accurate segregation of homologous chromosomes (1-3). Mutations that impair meiotic recombination have been reported to increase non-disjunction in Schizosaccharomyces pombe, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Caenorhabditis elegans, Drosophila, mice, and humans; malfunction of meiotic recombination is a leading cause of trisomies in humans (4).The molecular mechanisms of meiotic recombination have been extensively studied, especially in yeast. Meiotic recombination is initiated by DNA double strand breaks introduced in specific regions of chromosomes by a specialized enzyme, Spo11 (5, 6). Consequently, the mechanism of meiotic recombination appears to be closely related to the process of double strand break repair (7-10). The double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) 1 ends are resected to produce an intermediate with a 3Ј-overhanging single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) tail in a process that involves the Mre11/Rad50/Xrs2 heterotrimer (11). The consequent steps of meiotic recombination require Rad51 and Dmc1 proteins and other members of the Rad52 epistasis group (12). It is known that both Rad51 and Dmc1 can polymerize on the ssDNA tails to form extended nucleoprotein complexes that promote a search for homologous DNA and that perform DNA strand exchange (13-17). Rad51 and Dmc1 proteins have significant structural homology, sharing 52% identical amino acid residues, and display similar biochemical properties. However, these proteins may play distinct roles in vivo. Although Rad51 protein is expressed in both mitotic and meiotic cells, Dmc1 is a meiosis-specific protein. In mammals, Rad51 is an essential protein; RAD51 Ϫ/Ϫ knockouts in the mouse cause embryonic lethality. In contrast, DMC1 Ϫ/Ϫ knockouts are viable, but sterile (18,19).In vitro, under standard conditions in the presence of ATP and Mg 2ϩ , human (h) Dmc1 protein forms a peculiar structure on ssDNA defined as stacks of octameric rings (20) and weakly promotes DNA strand exchange (15, 21). Recently, it was found that KCl at elevated concentrations (100 -200 mM) strongly stimulates the DNA strand exchange activity of hDmc1 protein and also promotes the formation of hDmc1⅐ssDNA helical nucleoprotein filaments (17).Previously, we demonstrated that Ca 2ϩ activates the DNA strand exchange activity of hRad51 protein (22) and that Ca 2ϩ is required for stimulation of hRad51 protein by hRad54 protein (23). Here, we examine the effect of Ca 2ϩ on the DNA strand exchange activity of hDmc1. The results show that the DNA strand exchange activity of hDmc1 protein is greatly enhanced by Ca 2ϩ . Taken together with our previous findings, the results suggest that Ca 2ϩ may play a role in regulation of homologous recombination in vivo. This role of Ca 2ϩ seems especially compelling because (i) Ca 2ϩ is known as a common intracellular regulator (24), and (ii) Ca 2ϩ concentration rises in response to DNA damage (25-30) and during meiosis (31), at the time when ho...