Homologous recombination (HR)-mediated DNA double-strand break repair maintains genome integrity. Although long-studied, an understanding of two essential steps in this process -- the resection of DNA ends to produce recombinogenic 3' single-stranded DNA tails and the resolution of recombination intermediates -- has remained elusive. Recent findings show an unexpected role for the Sgs1 (BLM) he...

Homing endonuclease genes are "selfish" mobile genetic elements whose endonuclease promotes the spread of its own gene by creating a break at a specific target site and using the host machinery to repair the break by copying and inserting the gene at this site. Horizontal transfer across the boundary of a species or population within which mating takes place has been thought to be necessary for...

Sir, We are grateful for the opportunity to respond to the correspondence from Oegema et al. (2013) and we thank the authors for their interest in our recent review article discussing the three known neurological disorders associated with defective single strand break repair, namely ataxia oculomotor apraxia 1 (AOA1), spinocerebellar ataxia with neuronal neuropathy 1 (SCAN1) and microcephaly, e...

The anticancer agents 4'-demethylepipodophyllotoxin-4-(4,6-O-ethylidene-beta-D-glucopyra noside (etoposide) (VP16-213) and 4'-demethylepipodophyllotoxin-4-(4,6-O-thenylidene-beta-D-gl ucopyranoside (teniposide) (VM26) produce cytotoxicity by inhibiting type II topoisomerase, resulting in an accumulation of DNA breaks. By using alkaline elution techniques to assess in vivo DNA break frequencies,...

The relationship between synaptonemal complex formation (synapsis) and double-strand break formation (recombination initiation) differs between organisms. Although double-strand break creation is required for normal synapsis in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and the mouse, it is not necessary for synapsis in Drosophila and Caenorhabditis elegans. To investigate the timing of and requirements for doub...

RecN is a cohesin-like protein involved in DNA double-strand break repair in bacteria. The RecA recombinase functions to mediate repair via homologous DNA strand invasion to form D-loops. Here we provide evidence that the RecN protein stimulates the DNA strand invasion step of RecA-mediated recombinational DNA repair. The intermolecular DNA tethering activity of RecN protein described previousl...