What is it about?
Failure to correctly repair DNA damage has important consequences for cells, and can lead to the inheritance of mutations, cancer or cell death. 53BP1 is a protein that determines how cells repair double strand breaks in DNA. Here we have identified a specific region in 53BP1 that interacts with phosphorylated histone H2A (a marker of DNA damage), and that this is required for repair of damage at certain (heterochromatic) regions of the DNA.
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Why is it important?
Our findings identify a novel interaction for 53BP1 and have important implications for understanding how DNA double strand breaks are repaired.
Perspectives
53BP1 has previously been shown to interact with a number of other epigenetic modifications: ubiquitinated histone H2A and dimethylated histone H4. Here we identify a novel interaction: between the C-terminal BRCT domains of 53BP1 and phosphorylated histone H2A. We have previously identified a similar interaction involving the fission yeast orthologue, Crb2, indicating that this is a conserved role for this domain.
Dr Felicity Z Watts
University of Sussex
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: ATM Localization and Heterochromatin Repair Depend on Direct Interaction of the 53BP1-BRCT2 Domain with γH2AX, Cell Reports, December 2015, Elsevier,
DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2015.10.074.
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