title: The role of the non-homologous end-joining pathway in lymphocyte development.
abstract: One of the most toxic insults a cell can incur is a disruption of its linear DNA in the form of a double-strand break (DSB). Left unrepaired, or repaired improperly, these lesions can result in cell death or neoplastic transformation. Despite these dangers, lymphoid cells purposely introduce DSBs into their genome to maximize the diversity and effector functions of their antigen receptor genes. While the generation of breaks requires distinct lymphoid-specific factors, their resolution requires various ubiquitously expressed DNA-repair proteins, known collectively as the non-homologous end-joining pathway. In this review, we discuss the factors that constitute this pathway as well as the evidence of their involvement in two lymphoid-specific DNA recombination events.
authors.affiliation: Howard Hughes Medical Institute, The Children's Hospital, The Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School and The Center for Blood Research, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Sean
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rooney
authors.forename: Jayanta
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chaudhuri
authors.forename: Frederick W
authors.initials: FW
authors.lastname: Alt
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000378:metabolism; D004260:DNA Repair / Q000502:physiology*; D015322:Gene Rearrangement, B-Lymphocyte / Q000502:physiology; D015329:Gene Rearrangement, T-Lymphocyte / Q000502:physiology; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007143:Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D051379:Mice; D017385:Sequence Homology; D015398:Signal Transduction; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D018398:Homeodomain Proteins; D007143:Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains; C064658:RAG-1 protein