Local unwinding of double-strand DNA ends by the MRX complex promotes Exo1 processing activity

ABSTRACT

Homologous recombination is initiated by nucleolytic degradation (resection) of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs), which involves different nucleases including the Mre11-Rad50-Xrs2 (MRX) complex and the Exonuclease 1 (Exo1). The characterization of a novel mutation in Mre11 causing accelerated DSB resection has allowed to show that MRX facilitates DNA end processing by Exo1 through local unwinding of double-stranded DNA ends.

Keywords:

• double-strand break
• Exo1
• MRX
• resection
• S. cerevisiae

Disclosure statement

No potential conflicts of interest were disclosed.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Associazione Italiana per la Ricerca sul Cancro (AIRC) under IG grant 19783 and Progetti di Ricerca di Interesse Nazionale (PRIN) 2015 to MPL.