Holliday junctions (HJ) are the central intermediates in both homologous recombination and site-specific recombination performed by tyrosine recombinases such as the bacteriophage Integrase (Int) protein. Previously, our lab identified peptide inhibitors of Int-mediated recombination that prevent the resolution of HJ intermediates. We now show that two of these inhibitors bind HJ DNA in the square-planar conformation even in the absence of Int protein. The peptides prevent unwinding of branched DNA substrates by the RecG helicase of Escherichia coli and interfere with the resolution of HJ substrates by the RuvABC complex. Our results suggest that these peptides target all proteins that process HJ in the square-planar conformation. These inhibitors should be extremely useful for dissecting homologous recombination and recombination-dependent repair in vitro and in vivo.homologous recombination ͉ recombination-dependent repair ͉ RecG helicase ͉ RuvABC resolvasome ͉ tyrosine recombinase H olliday junctions (HJ), or four-way junctions, are central intermediates in homologous recombination, repair of collapsed replication forks, and reactions performed by the tyrosine recombinase family of site-specific enzymes (1-5). The first two processes are important in all organisms and are involved in the maintenance of chromosome integrity and repair of DNA damage. In the case of diploid organisms, faithful chromosome segregation depends on homologous recombination (6). Sitespecific recombination reactions performed by tyrosine recombinases are also very widespread and control gene expression, regulate plasmid and bacterial chromosome copy number, and mediate lysogeny (3). The presence and disappearance of HJ, their level within cells, and the enzymes that both generate and resolve them are of intense interest. More tools would be extremely useful for both in vitro and in vivo dissection of homologous recombination and repair processes in all organisms.Phage integrase (Int) binds to and mediates strand exchange between pairs of att sites. During recombination, one round of DNA cleavage, strand exchange, and ligation of the top strands of each partner DNA molecule generates a HJ intermediate, which is resolved by a second round of the same catalytic steps (3). These reactions are both rapid and highly reversible, making intermediates very difficult to study.We have identified peptides that inhibit recombination by trapping the protein-bound HJ intermediate and preventing its resolution either to substrates or to products (7-9). The most potent inhibitory peptide, WRWYCR, traps virtually all HJ formed during a reaction and has an IC 50 of 5-20 nM (9). A related peptide, KWWCRW, is very similar to WRWYCR in potency (8). These peptides also inhibit the mechanistically related Cre, XerC and D, and Flp proteins (ref. 9; A.M.S., unpublished results; A. Conway and P. A. Rice, personal communication). Because these proteins share little primary sequence identity, we reasoned that these peptides might interact with free HJ.HJ adopt one...