Increased spontaneous recombination in RNase H2-deficient cells arises from multiple contiguous rNMPs and not from single rNMP residues incorporated by DNA polymerase epsilon

May 15, 2016

Ribonucleotides (rNMPs) can become embedded in DNA from insertion by DNA polymerases, failure to remove Okazaki fragment primers, R-loops that can prime replication, and RNA/cDNA-mediated recombination. We report here that recombination is not stimulated by rNMPs incorporated by the replicative polymerase epsilon. Instead, recombination seems to be stimulated by multiple contiguous rNMPs, which may arise from R-loops or replication priming events.