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Fork regression is an active helicase-driven pathway in bacteriophage T4.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Long, DT; Kreuzer, KN
Published in: EMBO Rep
April 2009

Reactivation of stalled replication forks requires specialized mechanisms that can recognize the fork structure and promote downstream processing events. Fork regression has been implicated in several models of fork reactivation as a crucial processing step that supports repair. However, it has also been suggested that regressed forks represent pathological structures rather than physiological intermediates of repair. To investigate the biological role of fork regression in bacteriophage T4, we tested several mechanistic models of regression: strand exchange-mediated extrusion, topology-driven fork reversal and helicase-mediated extrusion. Here, we report that UvsW, a T4 branch-specific helicase, is necessary for the accumulation of regressed forks in vivo, and that UvsW-catalysed regression is the dominant mechanism of origin-fork processing that contributes to double-strand end formation. We also show that UvsW resolves purified fork intermediates in vitro by fork regression. Regression is therefore part of an active, UvsW-driven pathway of fork processing in bacteriophage T4.

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Published In

EMBO Rep

DOI

EISSN

1469-3178

Publication Date

April 2009

Volume

10

Issue

4

Start / End Page

394 / 399

Location

England

Related Subject Headings

  • Viral Proteins
  • Developmental Biology
  • DNA Replication
  • DNA Helicases
  • Bacteriophage T4
  • 3101 Biochemistry and cell biology
  • 0601 Biochemistry and Cell Biology
 

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Long, D. T., & Kreuzer, K. N. (2009). Fork regression is an active helicase-driven pathway in bacteriophage T4. EMBO Rep, 10(4), 394–399. https://doi.org/10.1038/embor.2009.13
Long, David T., and Kenneth N. Kreuzer. “Fork regression is an active helicase-driven pathway in bacteriophage T4.EMBO Rep 10, no. 4 (April 2009): 394–99. https://doi.org/10.1038/embor.2009.13.
Long DT, Kreuzer KN. Fork regression is an active helicase-driven pathway in bacteriophage T4. EMBO Rep. 2009 Apr;10(4):394–9.
Long, David T., and Kenneth N. Kreuzer. “Fork regression is an active helicase-driven pathway in bacteriophage T4.EMBO Rep, vol. 10, no. 4, Apr. 2009, pp. 394–99. Pubmed, doi:10.1038/embor.2009.13.
Long DT, Kreuzer KN. Fork regression is an active helicase-driven pathway in bacteriophage T4. EMBO Rep. 2009 Apr;10(4):394–399.
Journal cover image

Published In

EMBO Rep

DOI

EISSN

1469-3178

Publication Date

April 2009

Volume

10

Issue

4

Start / End Page

394 / 399

Location

England

Related Subject Headings

  • Viral Proteins
  • Developmental Biology
  • DNA Replication
  • DNA Helicases
  • Bacteriophage T4
  • 3101 Biochemistry and cell biology
  • 0601 Biochemistry and Cell Biology