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Rad54 protein possesses chromatin-remodeling activity stimulated by the Rad51–ssDNA nucleoprotein filament

Nature Structural & Molecular Biology volume 10, pages 182–186 (2003)Cite this article

Abstract

In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the Rad54 protein participates in the recombinational repair of double-strand DNA breaks together with the Rad51, Rad52, Rad55 and Rad57 proteins. In vitro, Rad54 interacts with Rad51 and stimulates DNA strand exchange promoted by Rad51 protein. Rad54 is a SWI2/SNF2-related protein that possesses double-stranded DNA–dependent ATPase activity and changes DNA topology in an ATP hydrolysis–dependent manner. Here we show that Rad54 catalyzes bidirectional nucleosome redistribution by sliding nucleosomes along DNA. Nucleosome redistribution is greatly stimulated by the Rad51 nucleoprotein filament but does not require the presence of homologous single-stranded DNA within the filament. On the basis of these data, we propose that Rad54 facilitates chromatin remodeling and, perhaps more generally, protein clearing at the homology search step of genetic recombination.

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Figure 1: Defined positions on DNA occupied by reconstituted nucleosomes.
Figure 2: Rad54 protein mediates bidirectional nucleosome movement.
Figure 3: The Rad51–ssDNA nucleoprotein filament enhances the chromatin-remodeling activity of Rad54.
Figure 4: The Rad51–ssDNA nucleoprotein filament does not affect chromatin remodeling by ACF.
Figure 5: Scheme illustrating the stimulatory role of Rad54 protein in DNA strand exchange.

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Acknowledgements

We thank J. New, N. Handa, M. Spies, E. Valencia-Morales, T. Sugiyama, Z. Ozsoy and K. Morimatsu for their helpful comments. We are especially grateful to V. Alexiadis and J. Kadonaga for providing the ACF and also for sharing their results before publication.

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  1. Alexander Mazin

    Present address: Department of Biochemistry, Drexel University College of Medicine, MS 497, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19102-1192, USA

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  1. Division of Biological Sciences, Sections of Microbiology and of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Center for Genetics and Development, University of California, Davis, 95616-8665, California, USA

    Andrei Alexeev, Alexander Mazin & Stephen C. Kowalczykowski

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Correspondence to Stephen C. Kowalczykowski.

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Alexeev, A., Mazin, A. & Kowalczykowski, S. Rad54 protein possesses chromatin-remodeling activity stimulated by the Rad51–ssDNA nucleoprotein filament. Nat Struct Mol Biol 10, 182–186 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/nsb901

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