We engineered a tagged version of the yeast Rad51 recombinase and used this tool to monitor DNA double-strand break repair in living cells. We could observe how a broken DNA fragment can scout the nucleus to identify a similar sequence and use it as a template for repair.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals
Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription
$29.99 / 30 days
cancel any time
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$209.00 per year
only $17.42 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on SpringerLink
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
References
Clarke, T. L. & Mostoslavsky, R. DNA repair as a shared hallmark in cancer and ageing. Mol. Oncol. 16, 3352–3379 (2022). A review article that presents an overview of the different repair pathways and their involvement in pre-mature aging syndromes and cancer.
Haber, J. E. DNA repair: the search for homology. BioEssays 40, 1700229 (2018). A review article that presents the factors potentially involved in a successful search for homology.
Wright, W. D., Shah, S. S. & Heyer, W.-D. Homologous recombination and the repair of DNA double-strand breaks. J. Biol. Chem. 293, 10524–10535 (2018). A review article that presents an overview of the molecular mechanisms of DNA repair by homologous recombination.
Lisby, M., Barlow, J. H., Burgess, R. C. & Rothstein, R. Choreography of the DNA damage response: spatiotemporal relationships among checkpoint and repair proteins. Cell 118, 699–713 (2004). This article reports the localization of DSB repair factor forming foci at DSB sites.
Miné-Hattab, J. et al. Single molecule microscopy reveals key physical features of repair foci in living cells. eLife 10, e60577 (2021). This paper reports in vivo single-molecule tracking of the Rad51 loader Rad52, and supports the existence of a liquid droplet forming around DSBs.
Additional information
Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
This is a summary of: Liu, S. et al. In vivo tracking of functionally tagged Rad51 unveils a robust strategy of homology search. Nat. Struct. Mol. Biol https://doi.org/10.1038/s41594-023-01065-w (2023).
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Visualizing the repair of broken DNA in living cells reveals a new mechanism for DNA homology search. Nat Struct Mol Biol 30, 1409–1410 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41594-023-01068-7
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41594-023-01068-7