title: Getting Ready for the Dance: FANCJ Irons Out DNA Wrinkles.
abstract: Mounting evidence indicates that alternate DNA structures, which deviate from normal double helical DNA, form in vivo and influence cellular processes such as replication and transcription. However, our understanding of how the cellular machinery deals with unusual DNA structures such as G-quadruplexes (G4), triplexes, or hairpins is only beginning to emerge. New advances in the field implicate a direct role of the Fanconi Anemia Group J (FANCJ) helicase, which is linked to a hereditary chromosomal instability disorder and important for cancer suppression, in replication past unusual DNA obstacles. This work sets the stage for significant progress in dissecting the molecular mechanisms whereby replication perturbation by abnormal DNA structures leads to genomic instability. In this review, we focus on FANCJ and its role to enable efficient DNA replication when the fork encounters vastly abundant naturally occurring DNA obstacles, which may have implications for targeting rapidly dividing cancer cells.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Molecular Gerontology, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, NIH Biomedical Research Center, 251 Bayview Blvd, Baltimore, MD 21224, USA. sanjay.bharti@nih.gov.
authors.forename: Sanjay Kumar
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Bharti
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Molecular Gerontology, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, NIH Biomedical Research Center, 251 Bayview Blvd, Baltimore, MD 21224, USA. sanket.awate@nih.gov.
authors.forename: Sanket
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Awate
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Molecular Gerontology, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, NIH Biomedical Research Center, 251 Bayview Blvd, Baltimore, MD 21224, USA. taraswi.banerjee@nih.gov.
authors.forename: Taraswi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Banerjee
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Molecular Gerontology, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, NIH Biomedical Research Center, 251 Bayview Blvd, Baltimore, MD 21224, USA. broshr@mail.nih.gov.
authors.forename: Robert M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Brosh
keywords: FANCJ; Fanconi Anemia; G-quadruplex; cancer; genetic diseases; genomic instability; helicase; replication; secondary DNA structure