DNA double-strand break repair: putting zinc fingers on the sore spot

Singh, J.K.; Attikum, H. van

doi:doi:10.1016/j.semcdb.2020.09.003

Persistent URL of this record https://hdl.handle.net/1887/3213875

View statistics

In Collections

This item can be found in the following collections:

Medicine / Leiden University Medical Centre (LUMC)

Singh, J.K.; Attikum, H. van (2021)

DNA double-strand break repair: putting zinc fingers on the sore spot

Article / Letter to editor

Zinc-Finger (ZnF) proteins represent one of the most abundant group of proteins in the human genome. At first characterized as DNA binding proteins, it has become increasingly clear that ZnF-proteins have the ability to bind a large variety of substrates such as RNAs, proteins and post-translational modifications, suggesting potential roles in a variety of biological processes. Indeed, several studies have implicated ZnF-proteins for instance in transcription regulation, signal transduction and cell migration. Intriguingly, more recently these proteins have emerged as important protectors of the genome, particularly by orchestrating the repair of highly deleterious DNA double-strand breaks. Here we provide a comprehensive summary of the roles of ZnF domain-containing proteins in DNA double-strand break repair and discuss how their dysfunction impacts genome stability and human disease.

Zinc-finger (ZnF) proteins

DNA double-strand break (DSB)

DSB repair

Non-homologous end joining (NHEJ)

Homologous recombination (HR)

Genome stability