Large non-homology in heteroduplex DNA is processed differently than single base pair mismatches

Abstract

Unmethylated DNA heteroduplexes with a large single stranded loop in one strand have been prepared from separated strands of DNA from two different strains of bacteriophage λ, one of which has a ∼800 base pair IS1 insertion in the cI gene. The results of transfections with these heteroduplexes into wild-type and mismatch repair deficient bacteria indicate that such large non-homologies are not repaired by the Escherichia coli mismatch repair system. However, the results do suggest that some process can act to repair such large non-homologies in heteroduplex DNA. Transfections of a series of recombination and excision repair deficient mutants suggest that known excision or recombination repair systems of E. coli are not responsible for the repair. Repair of large non-homologies may play a role in gene conversion involving large insertion or deletion mutations.