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Chromatin dynamics and the preservation of genetic information

Nature volume 447, pages 951–958 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

The integrity of the genome is frequently challenged by double-strand breaks in the DNA. Defects in the cellular response to double-strand breaks are a major cause of cancer and other age-related pathologies; therefore, much effort has been directed at understanding the enzymatic mechanisms involved in recognizing, signalling and repairing double-strand breaks. Recent work indicates that chromatin — the fibres into which DNA is packaged with a proteinaceous structural polymer — has an important role in initiating, propagating and terminating this cellular response to DNA damage.

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Figure 1: Structure of the nucleosome core particle and modifications of histones.
Figure 2: Main DSB-repair and DSB-induced signalling pathways.
Figure 3: Early chromatin remodelling and modification events at S. cerevisiae DSBs.

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Acknowledgements

We apologize to colleagues whose research could not be cited because of space limitations. J.A.D. is a Jenner Fellow of the Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine. M.C.N. is supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health and is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. A.N. is supported by the Intramural Research Program of the National Institutes of Health (at the Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute), and the A-T Children's Project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. MRC Genome Damage and Stability Centre, University of Sussex, Brighton, BN1 9RQ, UK

    Jessica A. Downs

  2. Howard Hughes Medical Institute, The Rockefeller University, 1230 York Avenue, New York, 10021, New York, USA

    Michel C. Nussenzweig

  3. Experimental Immunology Branch, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, 10 Center Drive, 4B04, Bethesda, 20892, Maryland, USA

    André Nussenzweig

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Downs, J., Nussenzweig, M. & Nussenzweig, A. Chromatin dynamics and the preservation of genetic information. Nature 447, 951–958 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature05980

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