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Happy Hollidays: 40th anniversary of the Holliday junction

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology volume 5, pages 937–944 (2004)Cite this article

Abstract

In 1964, the geneticist Robin Holliday proposed a mechanism of DNA-strand exchange that attempted to explain gene-conversion events that occur during meiosis in fungi. His proposal marked the birthday of the now famous cross-stranded DNA structure, or Holliday junction. To understand the importance of the Holliday model we must look back in the history of science beyond the last 40 years, to a time when theories of heredity were being proposed by Gregor Johann Mendel.

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Figure 1: The Mendelian ratio.
Figure 2: Robin Holliday.
Figure 3: The Holliday model.
Figure 4: Structure of the Holliday junction.
Figure 5: Structural comparison of the Holliday-junction resolvases.
Figure 6: Three-dimensional structure of RuvC– and RuvAB–Holliday-junction complexes.
Figure 7: Homologous recombination, the big picture.

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Acknowledgements

Work in the West laboratory is supported by Cancer Research UK, and by the Breast Cancer Campaign. Y.L. is a recipient of a post-doctoral fellowship from the American Cancer Society.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cancer Research UK, London Research Institute, Clare Hall Laboratories, South Mimms, EN6 3LD, Hertfordshire, UK

    Yilun Liu & Stephen C. West

Authors
  1. Yilun Liu
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  2. Stephen C. West
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Stephen C. West.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Related links

Related links

DATABASES

Entrez

archaeal Hjc

archaeal Hje

RecA

RusA

ruvA

ruvB

RuvC

T4 endonuclease VII

Saccharomyces genome database

Cce1

Mus81

Ndt80

Sgs1

Top3

S. pombe gene database

Ydc2

SwissProt

BLM

RAD51

RAD51C

RAD52

SPO11

topoisomerase IIIα

WRN

XRCC3

FURTHER INFORMATION

Bill Engels's laboratory (movies of Holliday junctions and mechanisms of recombination)

Human DNA-repair genes

NCBI structure database

University of Sheffield: model for the mechanism of RuvAB-mediated branch migration

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Liu, Y., West, S. Happy Hollidays: 40th anniversary of the Holliday junction. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 5, 937–944 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrm1502

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