Specific interactions between the human RAD51 and RAD52 proteins

Processing of DNA damage by the DNA double-strand break repair pathway in mammalian cells is accomplished by multiprotein complexes. However, the nature of these complexes and details of the molecular interactions are not fully understood. Interaction of the yeast RAD51 and RAD52 proteins plays a crucial role in yeast DNA homologous recombination and DNA double-strand break repair. Here, specific interactions between human RAD51 and RAD52 proteins are demonstrated both in vivo, using the yeast two-hybrid system and immunoprecipitation of insect cells co-infected with RAD51 and RAD52 recombinant viruses, and in vitro, using affinity chromatography with purified recombinant proteins. These results suggest that RAD52 may modulate the catalytic activities of RAD51 protein such as homologous pairing and strand exchange through a direct physical interaction. In addition, the domain in RAD52 that mediates this interaction was determined in vitro and in vivo. The RAD51-interacting region (amino acids 291-330) of the human RAD52 protein shows no homology with the yeast RAD52 protein, indicating that the interaction between RAD51 and RAD52 is species-specific.