Recent advances on the non-coherent band surgery model for site-specific recombination

Abstract

Site-specific recombination is an enzymatic process where two sites of precise sequence and orientation along a circle come together, are cleaved, and the ends are recombined. Site-specific recombination on a knotted substrate produces another knot or a two-component link depending on the relative orientation of the sites prior to recombination. Mathematically, site-specific recombination is modeled as coherent (knot to link) or non-coherent (knot to knot) banding. We here survey recent developments in the study of non-coherent bandings on knots and discuss biological implications.