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Updated: Aug 7, 2026

Identifying the Effects of BRCA1 Mutations on Homologous Recombination using Cells that Express Endogenous Wild-type BRCA1
Published on: February 17, 2011
Crystal structure of the BRCT repeat region from the breast cancer-associated protein BRCA1
R S Williams1, R Green, J N Glover
1Department of Biochemistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2H7, Canada.
Abstract:
The C-terminal BRCT region of BRCA1 is essential for its DNA repair, transcriptional regulation and tumor suppressor functions. Here we determine the crystal structure of the BRCT domain of human BRCA1 at 2.5 A resolution. The domain contains two BRCT repeats that adopt similar structures and are packed together in a head-to-tail arrangement. Cancer-causing missense mutations occur at the interface between the two repeats and destabilize the structure. The manner by which the two BRCT repeats interact in BRCA1 may represent a general mode of interaction between homologous domains within proteins that interact to regulate the cellular response to DNA damage. The structure provides a basis to predict the structural consequences of uncharacterized BRCA1 mutations.
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