Ku and the Stability of the Genome

Ku proteins are associated with a variety of cellular processes such as repair of DNA-double-strand breaks, telomere maintenance and retrotransposition. In recent years, we have learned a lot about their cellular and molecular functions and it has turned out that Ku-dependent processes affect the stability of the genome, both positively and negatively, in several ways. This article gives an overview on the role of Ku in determining the shape of the genome.