RecR, together with RecF and RecO, facilitates RecA loading in the RecF pathway of homologous recombinational DNA repair in procaryotes . The human Rad52 protein is a functional counterpart of RecFOR. We present here the crystal structure of RecR from Deinococcus radiodurans (DR RecR). A monomer of DR RecR has a two-domain structure: the N-terminal domain with a helix-hairpinhelix (HhH) motif and the C-terminal domain with a Cys 4 zinc-finger motif, a Toprim domain and a Walker B motif. Four such monomers form a ring-shaped tetramer of 222 symmetry with a central hole of 30À35 Å diameter. In the crystal, two tetramers are concatenated, implying that the RecR tetramer is capable of opening and closing. We also show that DR RecR binds to both dsDNA and ssDNA, and that its HhH motif is essential for DNA binding.

The RecR protein plays a key role in the RecFOR pathway of recombination, which is necessary for the repair of ssDNA gaps. RecR from Deinococcus radiodurans has been overexpressed in Escherichia coli and crystallized at 297 K using polyethylene glycol 1000 as a precipitant. X-ray diffraction data to 2.90 A resolution have been collected at 100 K using Cu Kalpha X-rays from a mercury-soaked crystal. The crystal belongs to space group C222(1), with unit-cell parameters a = 106.96, b = 122.25, c = 156.01 A. The asymmetric unit contains four monomers of RecR, with a crystal volume per protein weight (V(M)) of 2.57 A(3) Da(-1) and a solvent content of 51.0%.