抄録
Rad54, one of the Rad52 epistasis group proteins involving in homologous recombination (HR), is a member of the SNF2/SWI2 superfamily of chromatin remodeling factors defined by the presence of conserved helicase motifs. Rad54 is thought to exert its stimulatory effect on the DNA pairing activity of Rad51 by binding to the Rad51 - single-strand DNA nucleoprotein filament. Recent studies with yeast and vertebrates, Rad54 can translocate on DNA, generate super-helical torsion, and furthermore enhance the accessibility to nucleosomal DNA.
We identified a sequence that resembles known RAD54 genes in the Arabidopsis genome, and cloned the corresponding cDNA (AtRAD54). According to analyses of the expression pattern, the protein-protein interaction, and a T-DNA insertion mutant, AtRAD54 is a counterpart gene of RAD54 in Arabidopsis, and is important for HR repair in plants. Currently, we are analyzing AtRAD54 over-expressing Arabidopsis lines to test whether the over-expressed AtRad54 enhances HR.
