The bacterial RecA protein plays a central role in the repair of stalled replication forks, double-strand break repair, general recombination, induction of the SOS response, and SOS mutagenesis. The major activity of RecA in DNA metabolism is the promotion of DNA strand exchange reactions. RecA is the prototype for a ubiquitous family of proteins but exhibits a few activities that some of its eukaryotic, archaeal, and viral homologs appear to lack. In particular, the bacterial RecA protein possesses an apparent motor function that is not evident in the reactions promoted by the eukaryotic Rad51 protein. This motor may be needed only in a subset of the DNA metabolism contexts in which RecA protein functions. Models for the coupling of DNA strand exchange to ATP hydrolysis are examined.

中文翻译：

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细菌RecA蛋白作为运动蛋白。

细菌RecA蛋白在停滞的复制叉修复，双链断裂修复，一般重组，SOS反应诱导和SOS诱变中起着核心作用。RecA在DNA代谢中的主要活性是促进DNA链交换反应。RecA是无处不在的蛋白质家族的原型，但显示出一些其真核，古细菌和病毒同源物似乎缺乏的活性。特别地，细菌RecA蛋白具有明显的运动功能，这在真核Rad51蛋白促进的反应中不明显。仅在RecA蛋白起作用的DNA代谢环境的子集中，可能需要这种运动。检查了DNA链交换与ATP水解偶联的模型。