BACKGROUND Exonuclease 1 (EXO1) and Flap endonuclease 1 (FEN1) are members of the RAD2 family of structure-specific nucleases. Genetic analysis has identified roles for EXO1 and FEN1 in replication, recombination, DNA repair and maintenance of telomeres. Telomeres are composed of G-rich repeats that readily form G4 DNA. We recently showed that human EXO1 and FEN1 exhibit distinct activities on ...

Mammalian and Saccharomyces cerevisiae mismatch repair (MMR) proteins catalyze two MMR reactions in vitro. In one, mispair binding by either the MutS homolog 2 (Msh2)-MutS homolog 6 (Msh6) or the Msh2-MutS homolog 3 (Msh3) stimulates 5' to 3' excision by exonuclease 1 (Exo1) from a single-strand break 5' to the mispair, excising the mispair. In the other, Msh2-Msh6 or Msh2-Msh3 activate the Mut...

BACKGROUND Published studies on the association between the exonuclease 1 (EXO1) Glu589Lys polymorphism and cancer susceptibility have yielded conflicting results. Thus, a meta-analysis of published studies was performed to assess the possible association. MATERIALS AND METHODS All eligible case-control studies published up to January 2013 on the association between the EXO1 Glu589Lys polymor...

Exonuclease I was originally identified as a 5' --> 3' deoxyribonuclease present in fractionated extracts of Schizosaccharomyces pombe and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Genetic analysis of exo1 mutants of both yeasts revealed no major defect in meiosis, suggesting that exonuclease I is unlikely to be the primary activity that processes meiosis-specific double-strand breaks (DSBs). We report here th...

Genomic aberrations are common in cancers and the long arm of chromosome 1 is known for its frequent amplifications in breast cancer. However, the key candidate genes of 1q, and their contribution in breast cancer pathogenesis remain unexplored. We have analyzed the gene expression profiles of 1635 breast tumor samples using meta-analysis based approach and identified clinically significant can...

The uncapping of telomeres induces a DNA damage response. In Schizosaccharomyces pombe, deletion of pot1+ causes telomere uncapping and rapid telomere resection, resulting in chromosome fusion. Using the nmt-pot1-aid strain, we previously reported that Pot1 shut-off causes telomere loss and chromosome fusion in S. pombe. However, the factors responsible for the resection of uncapped telomeres r...

Eukaryotic cells preserve genome integrity upon DNA damage by activating a signaling network that promotes DNA repair and controls cell cycle progression. One of the most severe DNA damage is the DNA double-strand break (DSB), whose 5΄ ends can be nucleolitically resected by multiple nucleases to create 3΄-ended single-stranded DNA tails that trigger DSB repair by homologous recombination. Here...

BACKGROUND/AIM Several reports have investigated the role of exonuclease 1 (EXO1) rs1047840 in lung cancer risk in different ethnic populations. Nevertheless, the results have been controversial. We aimed to assess the possible association between EXO1 rs1047840 and risk of lung cancer in a meta-analysis. METHODS Human hospital- or population-based studies released before December 16, 2013 we...

DNA double-strand breaks impact genome stability by triggering many of the large-scale genome rearrangements associated with evolution and cancer. One of the first steps in repairing this damage is 5'→3' resection beginning at the break site. Recently, tools have become available to study the consequences of not extensively resecting double-strand breaks. Here we examine the role of Sgs1- and E...

BACKGROUND Exonuclease 1 (EXO1), one of DNA mismatch repair pathway genes, functions in maintaining genomic stability and affects tumor progression. We hypothesized that genetic variations in EXO1 may predict clinical outcomes in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). METHODS In this cohort study with 1,030 consecutive EOC patients, we genotyped four potentially functional polymorphisms in EXO1 by ...