Fusion of hairpin telomeres by the B. burgdorferi telomere resolvase ResT implications for shaping a genome in flux |
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Authors: | Kobryn Kerri Chaconas George |
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Institution: | Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta T2N 4N1, Canada. |
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Abstract: | Spirochetes of the genus Borrelia include the causative agents of Lyme disease and relapsing fever. These bacteria have a highly segmented genome where most replicons are linear molecules terminated by covalently closed hairpin telomeres. Moreover, these genomes appear to be in a state of flux with extensive and ongoing DNA rearrangements by unknown mechanisms. The B. burgdorferi telomere resolvase ResT generates the hairpin telomeres from replication intermediates in a reaction with mechanistic similarities to that catalyzed by type IB topoisomerases and tyrosine recombinases. We report here the unexpected ability of ResT to catalyze the fusion of hairpin telomeres in a reversal of the telomere resolution reaction. We propose that stabilized ResT-mediated telomere fusions are an underlying force for maintaining the B. burgdorferi genome in a state of flux. |
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