The Role of RecN in DNA Recombination and Repair in Escherichia coli

A double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) break is one of the key lesions that must be repaired for cell survival. DNA breaks induce the SOS response, where a set of 40 to 50 genes are induced in response to DNA damage. Among these genes is the recN function, which encodes a protein belonging to a class of proteins known to be important for the structural maintenance of chromosomes (SMC proteins). The aim of this project was to determine the role of the RecN protein in E. coli in repairing a dsDNA break. A plasmid-based gap repair assay was developed in order to test the recombinational repair function of the RecN protein in vivo. The results concluded that RecN was not needed for the repair of a dsDNA break when the break was repaired by the lambda Red pathway of recombination