TY - JOUR TI - Redox controls RecA protein activity via reversible oxidation of its methionine residues AU - Henry, Camille AU - Loiseau, Laurent AU - Vergnes, Alexandra AU - Vertommen, Didier AU - Mérida-Floriano, Angela AU - Chitteni-Pattu, Sindhu AU - Wood, Elizabeth A AU - Casadesús, Josep AU - Cox, Michael M AU - Barras, Frédéric AU - Ezraty, Benjamin A2 - Kowalczykowski, Stephen C A2 - Storz, Gisela VL - 10 PY - 2021 DA - 2021/02/19 SP - e63747 C1 - eLife 2021;10:e63747 DO - 10.7554/eLife.63747 UR - https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.63747 AB - Reactive oxygen species (ROS) cause damage to DNA and proteins. Here, we report that the RecA recombinase is itself oxidized by ROS. Genetic and biochemical analyses revealed that oxidation of RecA altered its DNA repair and DNA recombination activities. Mass spectrometry analysis showed that exposure to ROS converted four out of nine Met residues of RecA to methionine sulfoxide. Mimicking oxidation of Met35 by changing it for Gln caused complete loss of function, whereas mimicking oxidation of Met164 resulted in constitutive SOS activation and loss of recombination activity. Yet, all ROS-induced alterations of RecA activity were suppressed by methionine sulfoxide reductases MsrA and MsrB. These findings indicate that under oxidative stress MsrA/B is needed for RecA homeostasis control. The implication is that, besides damaging DNA structure directly, ROS prevent repair of DNA damage by hampering RecA activity. KW - oxidative damage KW - methionine sulfoxide KW - RecA KW - redox JF - eLife SN - 2050-084X PB - eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd ER -