The Rad52-Rad59 complex interacts with Rad51 and replication protein A.

The RAD52 gene is essential for homology-dependent repair of double-strand breaks in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Rad52 forms complexes with Rad51, replication protein A (RPA) or Rad59 and its presence is essential for the formation of Rad51-Rad52-Rad59 and RPA-Rad52-Rad59 complexes. The N-terminal region of Rad52, which is required for self-interaction to form a ring structure, is required for interaction with Rad59. Rad59 also shows self-interaction suggesting the formation of heteromeric and homomeric rings of Rad52 and Rad59. In wild-type cells, we propose the Rad51-Rad52-Rad59 complex is involved in conservative recombination events, including gene conversion and reciprocal recombination, whereas the Rad52-Rad59 complex participates in single-strand annealing.