The two major pathways for repairing double-strand breaks (DSBs), homologous recombination and nonhomologous end joining (NHEJ), have traditionally been thought to operate in different stages of the cell cycle. This division of labor is not absolute, however, and precisely what governs the choice of pathway to repair a given DSB has remained enigmatic. We pursued this question by studying the site-specific DSBs created during V(D)J recombination, which relies on classical NHEJ to repair the broken ends. We show that mutations that form unstable RAG postcleavage complexes allow DNA ends to participate in both homologous recombination and the error-prone alternative NHEJ pathway. By abrogating a key function of the complex, these mutations reveal it to be a molecular shepherd that guides DSBs to the proper pathway. We also find that RAG-mediated nicks efficiently stimulate homologous recombination and discuss the implications of these findings for oncogenic chromosomal rearrangements, evolution, and gene targeting.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 10. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 21 March 2023.
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#3,791,851
of 27,782,313 outputs
Outputs from Cell
#8,266
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#7,312
of 72,183 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Cell
#25
of 93 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 27,782,313 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done well and is in the 85th percentile: it's in the top 25% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 17,866 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 61.9. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 52% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 72,183 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done well, scoring higher than 89% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 93 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 64% of its contemporaries.
