Loss of both Holliday junction processing pathways is synthetically lethal in the presence of gonococcal pilin antigenic variation

Abstract excerpt

The obligate human pathogen Neisseria gonorrhoeae (Gc) has co-opted conserved recombination pathways to achieve immune evasion by way of antigenic variation (Av). We show that both the RuvABC and RecG Holliday junction (HJ) processing pathways are required for recombinational repair, each can act during genetic transfer, and both are required for pilin Av. Analysis of double mutants shows that either the RecG or...