Recognition and manipulation of branched DNA structure by junction-resolving enzymes 1 1Edited by P. E. Wright

λ Rap protein is a structure-specific endonuclease involved in phage recombination

“…and L.M.C., unpublished results). The endonuclease activity of Rap is clearly distinct from the known Holliday junction resolvases (T4 endo VII, T7 endo I, RusA, RuvC, and CCE1), all of which cleave by introducing symmetrically related nicks in four-way DNA (23). Rap has more in common with structure-specific endonucleases involved in eukaryotic nucleotide excision repair (e.g., XPG, ERCC1͞XPF), recombination, and replication (e.g., FEN-1) and D-loop cleavage in E. coli.…”

Genome analysis of Cronobacter phage vB_CsaP_Ss1 reveals an endolysin with potential for biocontrol of Gram-negative bacterial pathogens

“…ORF44 is predicted to encoded a Holliday junction resolvase, inferred by the identification of a (RusA) conserved domain. RusA was initially isolated from E. coli and was found to act as a branch-cutting tool to resolve four-way DNA junctions by the introduction of paired cleavages during homologous recombination and DNA repair events (Sharpes et al, 1994;White et al, 1997;Sharples et al, 1999). Primase enzymes are essential for DNA replication.…”

Dissection of the Regional Roles of the Archaeal Holliday Junction Resolvase Hjc by Structural and Mutational Analyses

“…The recombination process is terminated by symmetrical resolution of the junction, mediated by Holliday structure-specific endonucleases, which are found ubiquitously from bacteriophages to yeasts (reviewed in Refs. [2][3][4]. The same activity is also present in mammalian cells, although the corresponding enzymes have not been identified (5,6).…”

“…Comparative gel electrophoresis revealed that the Holliday junction by itself adopts two different conformations: open square and stacked-X (14). These conformations are known to be rearranged upon binding to the resolvase (2,(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20), and in some cases, base pair disruption occurs around the junction center (16, 20 -22). Although the crystal structures of the resolvase-Holliday junction complexes have not been determined yet, the structures of RuvC (23), T4 endonuclease VII (13), T7 endonuclease I (11), and Hjc (12) suggest that these resolvases in common contain basic surfaces, which are most likely to contact the DNA.…”