Cells navigate environments, communicate and build complex patterns by initiating gene
expression in response to specific signals. Engineers seek to harness this capability to …

Integration, excision, and inversion of defined DNA segments commonly occur through site-
specific recombination, a process of DNA breakage and reunion that requires no DNA …

James A. Shapiro proposes an important new paradigm for understanding biological
evolution, the core organizing principle of biology. Shapiro introduces crucial new molecular …

Most site‐specific recombinases fall into one of two families, based on evolutionary and
mechanistic relatedness. These are the tyrosine recombinases or λ integrase family and the …

▪ Abstract Structural models of site-specific recombinases from the lambda integrase family
of enzymes have in the last four years provided an important new perspective on the three …

The crystal structure of a Flp recombinase tetramer bound to a Holliday junction intermediate
has been determined at 2.65 Å resolution. Only one of Flp's two domains, containing the …

Lateral DNA transfer—the movement of genetic traits between bacteria—has a profound
impact on genomic evolution and speciation. The efficiency with which bacteria incorporate …

The separation and segregation of newly replicated bacterial chromosomes can be
constrained by the formation of circular chromosome dimers caused by crossing over during …

Integrons are genetic elements capable of integrating genes by a site-specific recombination
system catalyzed by an integrase. Integron integrases are members of the tyrosine …

The genus Borrelia includes the causative agents of Lyme disease and relapsing fever. An
unusual feature of these bacteria is a segmented genome consisting mostly of a number of …