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Science 10 April 1998:
Vol. 280. no. 5361, pp. 301 - 303
DOI: 10.1126/science.280.5361.301
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Reports

Rejoining of DNA by the RAG1 and RAG2 Proteins

Meni Melek, Martin Gellert, * Dik C. van Gent

Assembly of immunoglobulin and T cell receptor genes from separate gene segments [V(D)J recombination] begins with DNA double-strand breakage by the RAG1 and RAG2 proteins, acting at a pair of recombination signal sequences (RSSs). Here, the RAG proteins are shown to reverse the cleavage reaction by joining an RSS to a broken coding sequence end. These "hybrid joints" have also been found in lymphoid cells, even when the normal pathway of DNA double-strand break repair is inactive, and can now be explained by this activity of the RAG proteins.

M. Melek and M. Gellert, Laboratory of Molecular Biology, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892-0540, USA.
D. C. van Gent, Department of Cell Biology and Genetics, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Post Office Box 1738, 3000 DR Rotterdam, Netherlands.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: gellert{at}helix.nih.gov

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