Multiple roles for MRE11 at uncapped telomeres

Yibin Deng, Xiaolan Guo, David O. Ferguson and Sandy Chang ()
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Yibin Deng: Box 1010
Xiaolan Guo: Box 1010
David O. Ferguson: The University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA
Sandy Chang: Box 1010

Nature, 2009, vol. 460, issue 7257, 914-918

Abstract: Protecting the telomere: a complex tale The ends of linear eukaryotic chromosomes are capped by sequences known as telomeres. Although these are essentially one half of a DNA double-strand break, which is a pathogenic lesion that must be repaired to maintain the genome's integrity, telomeres do not normally activate DNA damage repair pathways. A major player in the process of telomere maintenance is the MRN complex, made up of three proteins (MRE11, RAD50 and NBS1). Now a study in mice using alleles that inactivate either the whole MRN complex or just the nuclease activity of MRE1, shows that MRE11 serves two functions at the telomere. It protects newly synthesized telomeric ends from repair factors by promoting the formation of an overhanging DNA end, and it degrades the overhang to promote fusion repair when the telomere is not functioning properly.

Date: 2009
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DOI: 10.1038/nature08196

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