Regulation of Hed1 and Rad54 binding during maturation of the meiosis-specific presynaptic complex

Most eukaryotes have two Rad51/RecA family recombinases, Rad51, which promotes recombination during mitotic double-strand break (DSB) repair, and the meiosis-specific recombinase Dmc1. During meiosis, the strand exchange activity of Rad51 is downregulated through interactions with the meiosis-specific protein Hed1, which helps ensure that strand exchange is driven by Dmc1 instead of Rad51. Hed1 acts by preventing Rad51 from interacting with Rad54, a cofactor required for promoting strand exchange during homologous recombination. However, we have a poor quantitative understanding of the regulatory interplay between these proteins. Here, we use real-time single-molecule imaging to probe how the Hed1- and Rad54-mediated regulatory network contributes to the identity of mitotic and meiotic presynaptic complexes. Based on our findings, we define a model in which kinetic competition between Hed1 and Rad54 helps define the functional identity of the presynaptic complex as cells undergo the transition from mitotic to meiotic repair.