title: To trim or not to trim: progression and control of DSB end resection.
abstract: DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) are the most cytotoxic form of DNA damage, since they can lead to genome instability and chromosome rearrangements, which are hallmarks of cancer cells. To face this kind of lesion, eukaryotic cells developed two alternative repair pathways, homologous recombination (HR) and non-homologous end joining (NHEJ). Repair pathway choice is influenced by the cell cycle phase and depends upon the 5'-3' nucleolytic processing of the break ends, since the generation of ssDNA tails strongly stimulates HR and inhibits NHEJ. A large amount of work has elucidated the key components of the DSBs repair machinery and how this crucial process is finely regulated. The emerging view suggests that besides endo/exonucleases and helicases activities required for end resection, molecular barrier factors are specifically loaded in the proximity of the break, where they physically or functionally limit DNA degradation, preventing excessive accumulation of ssDNA, which could be threatening for cell survival.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Bioscienze, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milano, Italia.
authors.forename: Magda
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Granata
authors.forename: Davide
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Panigada
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Galati
authors.forename: Federico
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lazzaro
authors.forename: Achille
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pellicioli
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Plevani
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Muzi-Falconi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002843:Chromatin / Q000378:metabolism; D053903:DNA Breaks, Double-Stranded; D004260:DNA Repair / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D042822:Genomic Instability / Q000235:genetics; D059765:Homologous Recombination / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans
chemical_list: D002843:Chromatin
keywords: DNA repair; chromatin; double-strand breaks; homologous recombination; non-homologous end joining; nucleases