Homologous recombination articles from across Nature Portfolio

Srr1/Ber1 containing the SRR1-like domain and Skb1 the human protein arginine methyltransferase 5 (PRMT5) homolog cause gross chromosomal rearrangements at centromeres in the absence of Rad51 recombinase.

Here the authors report that the yeast ubiquitin E3 ligase Bre1 and its human homolog RNF20 function as recombination mediator proteins by promoting Rad51-ssDNA assembly, Rad51 replacement of ssDNA-bound RPA while antagonizing the activities of Srs2 or FBH1 anti-recombinase.

Phosphorylation of Dna2 by the CDK stimulates resection of DNA double-strand breaks to stimulate recombinational DNA repair. Here the authors show that once resection has taken place, mitotically activated Cdc14 phosphatase inhibits resection by dephosphorylating Dna2 to facilitate DNA repair by homologous recombination.

Here the authors demonstrate that remodelling of perturbed replication forks by the exonuclease EXD2 modulates pathway choice within the Alternative Lengthening of Telomeres mechanism and identify potentially clinically important synthetic lethal interactions in ALT cancer cells.

Using cryo-EM, the authors study the RecF–DNA, RecFR–DNA, RecOR–DNA and RecFOR–DNA complexes. Combining the information from these structures, they provide new insight in how the RecFOR proteins cooperate to recognize ss–ds junctions and promote bacterial recombination.

The telomere binding proteins RAP1 and TRF2 protect telomeres from engaging in homology directed repair (HDR). In this study, the authors reveal that the basic domain of TRF2 (TRF2B) and RAP 1 cooperate to repress HDR at telomeres and prevent formation ultrabright telomere structures.