BRCA2 chaperones RAD51 to single molecules of RPA-coated ssDNA.

Mutations in the breast cancer susceptibility gene, BRCA2 , greatly increase an individual's lifetime risk of developing breast and ovarian cancers. BRCA2 suppresses tumor formation by potentiating DNA repair via homologous recombination. Central to recombination is the assembly of a RAD51 nucleoprotein filament, which forms on single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) generated at or near the site of chromosomal damage. However, replication protein-A (RPA) rapidly binds to and continuously sequesters this ssDNA, imposing a kinetic barrier to RAD51 filament assembly that suppresses unregulated recombination. Recombination mediator proteins-of which BRCA2 is the defining member in humans-alleviate this kinetic barrier to catalyze RAD51 filament formation. We combined microfluidics, microscopy, and micromanipulation to directly measure both the binding of full-length BRCA2 to-and the assembly of RAD51 filaments on-a region of RPA-coated ssDNA within individual DNA molecules designed to mimic a resected DNA lesion common in replication-coupled recombinational repair. We demonstrate that a dimer of RAD51 is minimally required for spontaneous nucleation; however, growth self-terminates below the diffraction limit. BRCA2 accelerates nucleation of RAD51 to a rate that approaches the rapid association of RAD51 to naked ssDNA, thereby overcoming the kinetic block imposed by RPA. Furthermore, BRCA2 eliminates the need for the rate-limiting nucleation of RAD51 by chaperoning a short preassembled RAD51 filament onto the ssDNA complexed with RPA. Therefore, BRCA2 regulates recombination by initiating RAD51 filament formation.