Cascading genomic rearrangements induced by toxic DNA repair intermediates

Publication of the LBMC in the journal Genes and Development, on August 4, 2023. Communication of CNRS-INSB on August 21, 2023. DNA breaks disrupt the integrity of the chromosome and the genetic information it contains. In an article published in the journal Genes and Development , scientists from the Laboratory of Biology and Modelling of the Cell (LBMC - CNRS/ENS de Lyon), in collaboration with teams from the USA, have further characterized a mechanism that puts genome stability at risk. These results will enable a better understanding of chromosomal rearrangements revealed by new sequencing techniques in various organisms and in certain pathological situations. Punctuated bursts of structural genomic variations (SVs) have been described in various organisms, but their etiology remains incompletely understood. Homologous recombination (HR) is a template-guided mechanism of repair of DNA double-strand breaks and stalled or collapsed replication forks.