No abstract

Background: Conservative site-specific recombination is responsible for the resolution of cointegrates which result during the transposition of class II transposable elements. Resolution is catalysed by a transposonencoded recombinase, resolvase, that belongs to a large family of recombinases, including DNA invertases. Resolvases and the related invertases are likely to employ similar reaction mechanisms during recombination. There are important differences, however. Resolvases require two accessory DNA binding sites within each of the two directly repeated recombination sites. Invertases instead need a host factor, Fis, and an enhancer type DNA sequence, in addition to two inversely orientated recombination sites.