KIN17, A MOUSE NUCLEAR-PROTEIN, BINDS TO BENT DNA FRAGMENTS THAT ARE FOUND AT ILLEGITIMATE RECOMBINATION JUNCTIONS IN MAMMALIAN-CELLS

Illegitimate recombination is the dominant mechanism of recombination in mammalian somatic cells. It is responsible for most genome rearrang ements such as translocations, deletions and integrations. Little is k nown as yet about the mechanism of illegitimate recombination and the enzymes involved. Recently, it has been shown that intrinsically bent DNA, also known as curved DNA, is present at chromosomal sites of ille gitimate recombination events. Here we report that KIN17, a new mouse nuclear protein, binds to the curved DNA fragments found at illegitima te recombination sites.