2012 Theses Master's

Eukaryotic Homologous Recombination Repair: A Dynamic Cast of Characters

Greenwald, Eric P.

The repair of DNA double-strand breaks by homologous recombination is a high-fidelity pathway critical for preserving genomic integrity. Recombination depends on the concerted actions of many proteins, each of which is recruited to the site of the DNA break at a specific time point to catalyze a step of the overall process. Many of these repair factors in eukaryotes have been characterized through genetics, biochemical experiments with purified proteins, and the single-molecule imaging of interactions between proteins and individual DNA molecules. The findings of many of these investigations are reviewed here. Much attention has been paid to the timing of assembly of each of the role players during the recombination reaction. The implications of timescale data for the interdependencies of functionally related repair factors are also highlighted. Future objectives in the field of DNA damage repair are discussed at the conclusion.