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Genomic stability

Silencing and DNA repair connect

Nature volume 388, pages 829–830 (1997)Cite this article

One of the challenges facing molecular biologists is to explain how the huge amount of DNA within the eukaryotic cell nucleus is packaged into chromatin, of which chromosomes are composed, and how this packaging affects processes such as DNA replication, transcription and the maintenance of genomic integrity. On page 900 of this issue1, Tsukamoto, Ka to and Ikeda reveal that three yeast proteins, associated with chromatin and with transcriptional silencing, are also involved in the repair of DNA damage induced by ionizing radiation. These results provide an unexpected dimension to silencing and chromatin organization, and may yield clues to the mechanism by which DNA double-strand breaks are rejoined.

The fundamental unit of chromatin is the nucleosome, in which DNA is wound around an octamer of the core histones H2A, H2B, H3 and H4. Interactions with linker histones and various non-histone proteins provide further DNA compaction, which, in defined regions of the genome, culminates in the highly condensed state termed heterochromatin. Notable features of heterochromatin are that it is generally transcriptionally silent, is replicated late in S-phase of the cell cycle, is localized to the nuclear periphery, and is relatively inaccessible to DNA-modifying enzymes2.

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Figure 1: The work by Tsukamoto et al.1 shows that, together with the DNA end-binding factor Ku, yeast Sir2, Sir3 and Sir4 proteins operate in rejoining breaks in double-stranded DNA.

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  1. Wellcome/CRC Institute, and the Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Tennis Court Road, CB2 1QR, Cambridge, UK

    Stephen P. Jackson

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  1. Stephen P. Jackson
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Jackson, S. Silencing and DNA repair connect. Nature 388, 829–830 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1038/42136

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