Hyperrecombination at a Specific DNA Sequence in Pneumococcal Transformation

In pneumococcal transformation, recombination frequency between point mutations is usually proportional to physical distances. We have identified an aberrant marker belonging to the amiA locus that appeared to markedly enhance recombination frequency when crossed with any other markers of this gene. This mutation results from the C-to-A transversion in the sequence A-T-T-C-A-T → A-T-T-A-A-T. This effect is especially apparent for short distances as small as 27 base pairs. The hyperrecombination does not require the wild-type function of the pneumococcal gene for an ATP-dependent DNase (which is homologous to the product of the Escherichia coli recBC genes) or of the hex genes, which correct certain mismatched bases in transformation. The hyper-recombination is affected by the presence of nearby mis-matched bases that trigger an excision-repair system. It is proposed that the mutation that shows hyperrecombination is sometimes converted to the wild-type allele at the heteroduplex stage of transformation.