DNA Recombination Methods and Protocols

Homologous recombination is important in various aspects of DNA metabolism, including damage repair, replication, telomere maintenance, and meiosis, and yeast genetics has successfully provided a framework for the mechanism of homologous recombination. Di

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MO L E C U L A R BI O L O G Y

Series Editor John M. Walker School of Life Sciences University of Hertfordshire Hatfield, Hertfordshire, AL10 9AB, UK

For further volumes: http://www.springer.com/series/7651

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DNA Recombination Methods and Protocols

Edited by

Hideo Tsubouchi University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom

Editor Hideo Tsubouchi MRC Genome Damage and Stability Centre University of Sussex Science Park Road, Falmer Brighton, BN1 9RQ United Kingdom [email protected]

ISSN 1064-3745 e-ISSN 1940-6029 ISBN 978-1-61779-128-4 e-ISBN 978-1-61779-129-1 DOI 10.1007/978-1-61779-129-1 Springer New York Dordrecht Heidelberg London Library of Congress Control Number: 2011928150 © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2011 All rights reserved. This work may not be translated or copied in whole or in part without the written permission of the publisher (Humana Press, c/o Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, 233 Spring Street, New York, NY 10013, USA), except for brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis. Use in connection with any form of information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed is forbidden. The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks, and similar terms, even if they are not identified as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not they are subject to proprietary rights. Printed on acid-free paper Humana Press is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com)

Preface Homologous recombination has been intensively studied in budding yeast. I think we are extremely lucky to find that homologous recombination is exceptionally robust in this organism, making it an ideal model to study this process. Historically, the availability of powerful genetics in this simple, unicellular organism has enabled the isolation of genes that play key roles in homologous recombination, and we have learnt a lot about homologous recombination using this organism. Homologous recombination is important in various aspects of DNA metabolism, including damage repair, replication, telomere maintenance, and meiosis. We also now know that key players in homologous recombination identified and characterized in yeast, such as proteins encoded by the genes belonging to the so-called RAD52 group, are well conserved among eukaryotic species, including humans. This offers promise that further in-depth characterization of homologous recombination using yeast will help provide the basic framework for understanding the universal mechanism(s) of homologous recombination conserved in eukaryotes. When asked to edit a book about methods for studying homologous recombination, I decided to include chapters that cover recent techniques that best utilize the advantages of the yeast system, with the belief that yeast will keep serving as a great model organism to study homologous recombination. On the other hand, there is a group of genes involved in