Purified Escherichia coli recA protein, using the energy of ATP, promotes the pairing of homologous molecules of DNA. The prototype of the reaction is the pairing of a single strand of DNA with duplex DNA; the product is a joint molecule in which the two parental contributions are linked only by the hydrogen bonds of paired, complementary bases. Single-stranded DNA governs this reaction. recA protein will pair a duplex molecule with a molecule that is single-stranded or partially single-stranded. On the other hand, no report has yet described the pairing of two fully duplex molecules. Other ways in which single-stranded DNA governs the pairing reaction are illustrated in Figure 1. When recA protein pairs a single strand of DNA with duplex DNA, the amount of protein that is required is stoichiometrically determined by the amount of single-stranded DNA; 1 molecule of recA protein is required for every 3–5 nucleotide residues...
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Radding et al. (1983) studied this question.