Holliday junction

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A Holliday junction is a mobile junction between four strands of DNA. The structure is named after Robin Holliday, who proposed it in 1964 to account for a particular type of exchange of genetic information in yeast known as homologous recombination.

Because these junctions are between homologous sequences they can slide up and down the DNA. In bacteria, this sliding (or branch migration) is facilitated by the RuvABC complex, a molecular motor that uses the energy of ATP hydrolysis to push the junction around. The junction must then be resolved to restore 2 linear duplexes. This can be done to either restore the parental configuration or to establish a crossed over configuration.

Holliday junctions are important in maintaining genomic integrity.

[edit] References

• Franklin A. Hays, Jeffrey Watson, and P. Shing Ho (December 12, 2003). "Caution! DNA Crossing: Crystal Structures of Holliday Junctions". J. Biol. Chem. 278 (50): 49663–49666. DOI:10.1074/jbc.R300033200.