Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 20, 2026

Characterizing DNA Repair Processes at Transient and Long-lasting Double-strand DNA Breaks by Immunofluorescence Microscopy
Published on: June 8, 2018
Cell cycle-dependent regulation of double-strand break repair: a role for the CDK
1Department of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Israel.
Abstract:
DNA Double-Strand Breaks (DSBs) are dangerous lesions that can lead to genomic instability and to cell death. Eukaryotic cells repair DSBs either by nonhomologous end joining (NHEJ) or by homologous recombination (HR). Recent work has allowed to study the ability of yeast cells to repair a single, chromosomal DSB, at different stages of the cell cycle. Yeast cells repair the broken chromosome during the G(1) stage only by NHEJ, whereas HR is the mechanism of choice during the rest of the cell cycle. HR does not require duplicated chromatids or passage through S-phase. Control over the fate of the broken chromosome is exerted by Clb-CDK activity, which is required to carry out the first step of HR, ssDNA resection. Similar results in other organisms suggest that this control is a conserved feature in all eukaryotes.
Related Concept Videos
DNA Damage Can Stall the Cell Cycle
DNA Damage can Stall the Cell Cycle
Inhibition of Cdk Activity
Inhibition of CDK Activity
Negative Regulator Molecules
S-Cdk Initiates DNA Replication
Two states at the origin of replication
In eukaryotes, the initiation of replication occurs at many sites on the chromosomes, called the origins of replication.

