Dr. Gaëlle Legube, Chromatin and DNA Repair Group, Integrative Biology Centre, University of Toulouse, France
Tuesday 20th November, 1.00 p.m., Stacey Lecture Theatre 1
Double-Strand Breaks (DSB) are highly detrimental DNA lesions that can cause cancer-driving mutations or translocations. Non-Homologous End Joining and Homologous Recombination represent the two main repair pathways operating in the context of chromatin to ensure genome stability. Despites extensive efforts, our knowledge of DSB-induced chromatin still remains fragmentary. Using a cell line, called DIvA (for DSB Inducible via AsiSI), where multiples breaks can be induced at annotated positions throughout the human genome, combined with ChIP-seq, we try to provide a comprehensive picture of the chromatin landscape set up at DSBs and identify specific chromatin events occurring upon NHEJ and HR. Moreover, using ChIP-seq against HR and NHEJ proteins, as well as Capture Hi-C, we have also reported that when damaged, transcriptionally active units adopt a very peculiar behavior, being repaired by HR in G2 and left unrepaired and clustered in G1, pointing toward a potential “transcription coupled DSB repair” pathway.