Extensive remodeling of chromatin after DNA damage

In eukaryotes, histones are often modified and evicted at site of DNA double-strand breaks in order to facilitate end-resection and break repair. Together with the protein analysis facility of the FMI, the Gasser group has quantified massive changes in the chromatin associated proteome in response to DNA damage. Triggered by ubiquitin ligases, these changes drive the degradation of core and linker histones genome-wide, evict the transcription machinery and increase the efficiency of homologous recombination. Our genomes frequently encounter many types of DNA lesions. In order to repair DNA damage and safeguard the integrity of the genome, repair mechanisms are of primordial importance. An earlier study from the Gasser group showed that a fraction of nucleosomes are depleted across the genome in response to oxidizing damage and the activated DNA damage checkpoint. The reduction in nucleosome occupancy appeared to stem from a controlled degradation of the four core histones.