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DNA damage: offing KAP to stay focused in the dark
Simon Petersen-Jones1, Katheryn Meek2
1Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48823, USA; College of Veterinary Medicine, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48823, USA.
Current Biology : CB
|May 22, 2014
Abstract:
To optimize night vision, nocturnal mammals exploit the light refractive properties of heterochromatin, adopting a unique nuclear structure that positions heterochromatin at the center of the nucleus focusing light on photoreceptors. This strategy comes at the expense of genome protection because DNA breaks cannot be repaired in dense heterochromatin.