(A) Schematic of the strand exchange reaction with input ss-DNA, dsDNA, intermediate joint molecule (JM), and final nicked circular (NC) products illustrated. (B) Representative gel indicating the presence or absence and duration of reactions above the gel for assays performed with Mg²⁺ as the cation. NP indicates a reaction where no protein was added. The panels in (C) show the yield of JM product as a percentage of total DNA and NC product as a percentage of total DNA in the panels in (D). For all reactions, SsoRadA was used at a stoichiometry of 1:3 (nucleotides). Blue triangles indicate the use of Mg²⁺, orange circles show Ca²⁺, and Mn²⁺ is represented with purple squares. All graphed data points are the averages of a minimum of three replicates and error bars represent ± standard error.