Homologous recombination maintenance of genome integrity during DNA damage tolerance

The DNA strand exchange protein Rad51 provides a safe mechanism for the repair of DNA breaks using the information of a homologous DNA template. Homologous recombination (HR) also plays a key role in the response to DNA damage that impairs the advance of the replication forks by providing mechanisms to circumvent the lesion and fill in the tracks of single-stranded DNA that are generated during the process of lesion bypass. These activities postpone repair of the blocking lesion to ensure that DNA replication is completed in a timely manner. Experimental evidence generated over the last few years indicates that HR participates in this DNA damage tolerance response together with additional error-free (template switch) and error-prone (translesion synthesis) mechanisms through intricate connections, which are presented here. The choice between repair and tolerance, and the mechanism of tolerance, is critical to avoid increased mutagenesis and/or genome rearrangements, which are both hallmarks of cancer.