Double, double coils or trouble

Access through your institution Buy or subscribe How do DNA duplexes pair up and stay linked? This togetherness is necessary for proper cell maintenance and division, such as during

homologous recombination, but the mechanisms are not well understood. Now, in a recent paper (Hopfner, K.-P. _et al_. _Nature_ 418, 562–566; 2002), researchers suggest how a set of proteins

called the Mre11 complex may crosslink DNA. Mre11 (a double-strand break repair nuclease) and Rad50 (an ATPase) are the primary components of the Mre11 complex, and both are found in all

kingdoms of life. They form a heterotetramer in 2:2 stoichiometry and appear to function together in numerous processes including telomere maintenance, synaptonemal complex formation,

meiotic DNA processing, non-homologous DNA end joining, and recombination. This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution ACCESS OPTIONS Access through your

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our FAQs * Contact customer support Authors * Tracy Smith View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions

ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Smith, T. Double, double coils or trouble. _Nat Struct Mol Biol_ 9, 645 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/nsb0902-645 Download citation * Issue Date: 01

September 2002 * DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nsb0902-645 SHARE THIS ARTICLE Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content: Get shareable link Sorry, a shareable

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