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Updated: Jul 15, 2026

Visualization of DNA Repair Proteins Interaction by Immunofluorescence
Published on: June 26, 2020
SMC proteins, new players in the maintenance of genomic stability
Felipe Cortés-Ledesma1, Giaccomo de Piccoli, James E Haber
1Department of Molecular Biology, CABIMER, CSIC-Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain.
Abstract:
Homologous recombination (HR) is one of the key mechanisms responsible for the repair of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs), including those that occur during DNA replication. Recent studies in yeast and mammals have uncovered that the SMC complexes cohesins and Smc5-Smc6 are recruited to induced DSBs, and play a role in the maintenance of genome stability by favouring SCR as the main recombinational DSB repair mechanism. These new results raise intriguing questions such as whether SMC proteins might play a functional role at collapsed replication forks, which may represent the main source of spontaneous recombinogenic damage. A deeper knowledge of the role of SMC proteins in DSB repair should contribute to a better understanding of chromosome dynamics and stability.
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