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Updated: Dec 26, 2025

Characterizing DNA Repair Processes at Transient and Long-lasting Double-strand DNA Breaks by Immunofluorescence Microscopy
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Checkpoint Responses to DNA Double-Strand Breaks

David P Waterman1, James E Haber1, Marcus B Smolka2

  • 1Department of Biology and Rosenstiel Basic Medical Sciences Research Center, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts 02454, USA;

Annual Review of Biochemistry
|March 17, 2020
PubMed

Insights

Cells activate a DNA damage checkpoint (DDC) to repair DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs). This response prevents cell death and cancer by halting the cell cycle and initiating DNA repair, studied in yeast and mammals.

Area of Science:

  • Molecular Biology
  • Cell Biology
  • Genetics

Background:

  • Cells encounter DNA damage, including DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs), during each cell cycle.
  • Unrepaired or improperly repaired DSBs can lead to cell lethality or cancer.
  • The DNA damage checkpoint (DDC) response is a critical cellular mechanism to manage DSBs.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To examine the DNA damage checkpoint (DDC) response induced by DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs).
  • To investigate the conserved mechanisms of DDC in both budding yeast and mammalian systems.

Main Methods:

  • Comparative analysis of DDC pathways.
  • Utilizing budding yeast as a model organism.
  • Investigating DDC in mammalian cells.

Main Results:

  • The DDC response involves cell cycle arrest, gene expression reprogramming, and recruitment of DNA repair factors.
  • Conserved elements of the DDC response exist between yeast and mammals.
  • The DDC is essential for preventing the inheritance of damaged chromosomes.

Conclusions:

  • The DNA damage checkpoint is a fundamental cellular process for maintaining genomic integrity.
  • Understanding DDC mechanisms in model systems like yeast can provide insights into human disease, including cancer.
  • The study highlights the conserved nature of DNA damage response pathways across eukaryotes.
Keywords:
DNA double-strand breakDNA repaircell cyclecheckpointkinases

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