Double-strand DNA breaks articles from across Nature Portfolio

Here the authors show that the nucleus undergoes a transient ‘metamorphosis’ within a nuclear–cytoplasmic DNA damage response linked to health and disease. Through this process, the nuclear envelope projects tubules that capture damaged DNA, mediating its repair.

Meiotic cells deliberately break their DNA to allow chromosomes to swap genetic material. Here, authors reveal genetically separable pathways controlling the seeding and growth of chromosome-bound protein condensates responsible for DNA breaks.

The repair of DNA double strand breaks is strictly controlled during the cell cycle by the CDK kinase. Here the authors identify the DDK kinase as a second major regulator for this cell cycle regulation and elucidate its functional targets.

DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) are repaired by a hierarchically regulated network of pathways. Here, authors develop ICP for deciphering somatic DSB repair patterns in multicellular organisms and discover developmental regulation in flies and mosquitoes, enabling tracking of mutant alleles and interhomolog copying of gene cassettes.

Nonhomologous end joining (NHEJ), the primary pathway of vertebrate DNA double strand-break (DSB) repair, directly re-ligates broken DNA ends with minimal errors. In this study, the authors identify structural interactions of the NHEJ-specific DNA Ligase IV (Lig4) that prioritize ligation and promote NHEJ fidelity.

DNA polymerase θ (POLQ) repairs mitotic DNA breaks; this requires RHINO and PLK1, averts genomic instability and may underlie effects of POLQ inhibitors in HDR-deficient cancer cells. We discuss recent work on mitotic DNA break processing and repair, the need for multiple DSB repair pathways and implications of therapeutic POLQ targeting in cancer.

New work shows that in mammals, the iDDR motif of telomere factor TRF2 inhibits the MRE11–RAD50–NBS1 (MRN) complex at chromosome ends through a direct iDDR–RAD50 interaction. Unrelated protein motifs in yeasts inhibit MRN functions via an analogous mechanism, suggesting a convergent evolution in eukaryotes to control MRN action at telomeres.

Increasing evidence links RNA methyltransferases to DNA damage repair. METTL16 is now shown to antagonize homologous recombination by preventing DNA-end resection via MRE11. Thus, METTL16 may represent a cancer vulnerability that can be used to identify patients able to benefit from combination therapies with DNA-damaging agents.

The collapse of DNA replication forks leads to the formation of single-ended DNA double-strand breaks. One would have assumed that these breaks would be repaired as soon as possible. However, a recent study suggests that a delay in DNA polymerase θ-mediated end joining until mitosis, orchestrated by BRCA2 and RAD52, favors genomic stability.

Cells rely on two main pathways to repair DNA lesions, homologous recombination and non-homologous end-joining, and how they decide to use one machinery over the other is not clear. A recent study identifies ASTE1 as a regulator controlling pathway choice.