title: Nuclear Dynamics of Heterochromatin Repair.
abstract: Repairing double-strand breaks (DSBs) is particularly challenging in pericentromeric heterochromatin, where the abundance of repeated sequences exacerbates the risk of ectopic recombination and chromosome rearrangements. Recent studies in Drosophila cells revealed that faithful homologous recombination (HR) repair of heterochromatic DSBs relies on the relocalization of DSBs to the nuclear periphery before Rad51 recruitment. We summarize here the exciting progress in understanding this pathway, including conserved responses in mammalian cells and surprising similarities with mechanisms in yeast that deal with DSBs in distinct sites that are difficult to repair, including other repeated sequences. We will also point out some of the most important open questions in the field and emerging evidence suggesting that deregulating these pathways might have dramatic consequences for human health.
authors.affiliation: University of Southern California, Molecular and Computational Biology Department, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA.
authors.forename: Nuno
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Amaral
authors.affiliation: University of Southern California, Molecular and Computational Biology Department, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA.
authors.forename: Taehyun
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ryu
authors.affiliation: University of Southern California, Molecular and Computational Biology Department, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA.
authors.forename: Xiao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: University of Southern California, Molecular and Computational Biology Department, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA. Electronic address: chiolo@usc.edu.
authors.forename: Irene
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Chiolo
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000235:genetics*; D053903:DNA Breaks, Double-Stranded; D004260:DNA Repair / Q000235:genetics*; D004330:Drosophila / Q000235:genetics; D006570:Heterochromatin / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D051135:Rad51 Recombinase / Q000235:genetics; D059767:Recombinational DNA Repair / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D006570:Heterochromatin; D051135:Rad51 Recombinase