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The Kudos of non-homologous end-joining

Nature Genetics volume 23, pages 130–131 (1999)Cite this article

Our understanding of the non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ) pathway, which mediates DNA-damage repair, has benefited from a number of advances in recent years1. Whereas it is used to differing extents in different organisms, it is, to the best of our knowledge, common to all eukaryotes. By illegitimate recombination, it repairs DNA breaks that have limited homology at their ends and that occur in mitotic cells. It is believed to commandeer a discrete set of proteins for this task, and the identity, function and choreography of these proteins are slowly coming into focus. A study by Wolfgang Goedecke and colleagues2 on page 194 of this issue twists the lens in the right direction.

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Figure 1: Model of Ku70 regulation in meiosis and mitosis2.
Figure 2: Model of Ku70 recruitment in response to DSBs ( ref.12).

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  1. Department of Biochemistry, Tulane University Medical Center, 1430 Tulane Avenue, New Orleans, 70112, Louisiana, USA

    Arthur J Lustig

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Lustig, A. The Kudos of non-homologous end-joining. Nat Genet 23, 130–131 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/13755

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