strand invasion

The process in which the nucleoprotein complex (composed of the broken single-strand DNA and the recombinase) searches and identifies a region of homology in intact duplex DNA. The broken single-strand DNA displaces the like strand and forms Watson-Crick base pairs with its complement, forming a duplex in which each strand is from one of the two recombining DNA molecules.

• Code: GO:0042148
• Source: Gene Ontology
• Alternative labels: displacement loop formation Rad51-mediated strand invasion D-loop biosynthesis displacement loop biosynthesis D-loop formation