ArticleNature2012
Single-molecule imaging of DNA pairing by RecA reveals a three-dimensional homology search.
Article in Nature, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 123 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
123 citing papers in PubMed, 215 citations in OpenAlex.
- Strategies and mechanisms of precision genome engineering: From gene editing to genome writing.iMetaOmics · 2026Review
- Mechanisms That Govern Recombinase Fidelity Control During Eukaryotic Homologous Recombination.BioEssays : news and reviews in molecular, cellular and developmental biology · 2026Review
- Chromosome topology gates productive RecA homology search.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- R-loops and D-loops: a delicate balance in genomic stability and instability.Cell communication and signaling : CCS · 2026Review
- The eukaryotic homology search complex distorts donor DNA structure to probe for homology.Genes & development · 2026Article
- Human cathelicidin peptide LL-37 compacts nucleic acids and alters neutrophil extracellular trap structure.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- HOP2-MND1 chaperones a diffusing DMC1-ssDNA complex to survey dsDNA for homology recognition during meiotic recombination.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Investigation of Regulation and Binding Patterns of the Human Cathelicidin Peptide LL-37 in Complexation with Nucleic Acids, and its Impact on Neutrophil Extracellular Traps.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Dual-single-guide RNA strategy improves CRISPR-mediated homology-directed repair in Aspergillus.Nucleic acids research · 2026Article
- Article
- NProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Biochemical Mechanisms of Genetic Recombination and DNA Repair.Annual review of biochemistry · 2025Review
- Engineering recombination machinery facilitates the construction of yeast cell factories.FEMS yeast research · 2025Review
- The translocation activity of Rad54 reduces crossover outcomes during homologous recombination.Nucleic acids research · 2024Article
- Agent-based modeling of nuclear chromosome ensembles identifies determinants of homolog pairing during meiosis.PLoS computational biology · 2024Article
- Trans-complementation by the RecB nuclease domain of RecBCD enzyme reveals new insight into RecA loading upon χ recognition.Nucleic acids research · 2024Article
- Homology recognition without double-stranded DNA-strand separation in D-loop formation by RecA.Nucleic acids research · 2024Article
- Review
- All who wander are not lost: the search for homology during homologous recombination.Biochemical Society transactions · 2024Article
- Agent-based modeling of nuclear chromosome ensemble identifies determinants of homolog pairing during meiosis.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
63 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
DNA breaks can be repaired with high fidelity by homologous recombination. A ubiquitous protein that is essential for this DNA template-directed repair is RecA. After resection of broken DNA to produce single-stranded DNA (ssDNA), RecA assembles on this ssDNA into a filament with the unique capacity to search and find DNA sequences in double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) that are homologous to the ssDNA. This homology search is vital to recombinational DNA repair, and results in homologous pairing and exchange of DNA strands. Homologous pairing involves DNA sequence-specific target location by the RecA-ssDNA complex. Despite decades of study, the mechanism of this enigmatic search process remains unknown. RecA is a DNA-dependent ATPase, but ATP hydrolysis is not required for DNA pairing and strand exchange, eliminating active search processes. Using dual optical trapping to manipulate DNA, and single-molecule fluorescence microscopy to image DNA pairing, we demonstrate that both the three-dimensional conformational state of the dsDNA target and the length of the homologous RecA-ssDNA filament have important roles in the homology search. We discovered that as the end-to-end distance of the target dsDNA molecule is increased, constraining the available three-dimensional (3D) conformations of the molecule, the rate of homologous pairing decreases. Conversely, when the length of the ssDNA in the nucleoprotein filament is increased, homology is found faster. We propose a model for the DNA homology search process termed 'intersegmental contact sampling', in which the intrinsic multivalent nature of the RecA nucleoprotein filament is used to search DNA sequence space within 3D domains of DNA, exploiting multiple weak contacts to rapidly search for homology. Our findings highlight the importance of the 3D conformational dynamics of DNA, reveal a previously unknown facet of the homology search, and provide insight into the mechanism of DNA target location by this member of a universal family of proteins.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.