Binding of double-strand breaks in DNA by human Rad52 protein

Eric Van Dyck, Alicja Z. Stasiak, Andrzej Stasiak and Stephen C. West ()
Additional contact information
Eric Van Dyck: Imperial Cancer Research Fund, Clare Hall Laboratories
Alicja Z. Stasiak: Laboratoire d'Analyse Ultrastructurale, Universit de Lausanne
Andrzej Stasiak: Laboratoire d'Analyse Ultrastructurale, Universit de Lausanne
Stephen C. West: Imperial Cancer Research Fund, Clare Hall Laboratories

Nature, 1999, vol. 398, issue 6729, 728-731

Abstract: Abstract Double-strand breaks (DSBs) in DNA are caused by ionizing radiation. These chromosomal breaks can kill the cell unless repaired efficiently, and inefficient or inappropriate repair can lead to mutation, gene translocation and cancer1. Two proteins that participate in the repair of DSBs are Rad52 and Ku: in lower eukaryotes such as yeast, DSBs are repaired by Rad52-dependent homologous recombination, whereas vertebrates repair DSBs primarily by Ku-dependent non-homologous end-joining2. The contribution of homologous recombination to vertebrate DSB repair, however, is important3,4. Biochemical studies indicate that Ku binds to DNA ends and facilitates end-joining5. Here we show that human Rad52, like Ku, binds directly to DSBs, protects them from exonuclease attack and facilitates end-to-end interactions. Amodel for repair is proposed in which either Ku or Rad52 binds the DSB. Ku directs DSBs into the non-homologous end-joining repair pathway, whereas Rad52 initiates repair by homologous recombination. Ku and Rad52, therefore, direct entry into alternative pathways for the repair of DNA breaks.

Date: 1999
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/19560 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:398:y:1999:i:6729:d:10.1038_19560

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/19560

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().