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Regulation of Recombination by Chromatin

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DNA Replication, Recombination, and Repair

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Abstract

Eukaryotic DNA is bound by various proteins such as histones, and is packaged into a highly condensed structure termed chromatin, which poses profound influences on DNA and its metabolism. Due to its compactness, chromatin generally represses all DNA-templated reactions by preventing DNA-processing proteins from accessing to and/or functioning at their target sites. On the contrary, there are many cases in which condensed chromatin rather facilitates genomic events through forming specific three-dimensional structures, promoting DNA-protein interactions, or bringing separately located loci together. Therefore, chromatin is a central regulator of DNA-dependent processes, and deciphering its roles is of paramount importance to understand their in vivo mechanisms. Obviously, recombination is under a great impact of chromatin, and much effort has been made to reveal how it is regulated by chromatin. In this chapter, we focus on three instances, homologous recombination, V(D)J recombination in vertebrates, and mating-type switching in fission yeast, to discuss a wide variety of roles of chromatin in regulating these events.

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Acknowledgments

We regret that much of the relevant work could not be cited due to space limitations. We thank Dr. Hidetaka Seo for comments on the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Life Sciences, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, 153-8902, Japan

    Takatomi Yamada & Kunihiro Ohta

  2. Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Chuo University, Tokyo, 112-8551, Japan

    Takatomi Yamada

Authors
  1. Takatomi Yamada
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  2. Kunihiro Ohta
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Correspondence to Takatomi Yamada or Kunihiro Ohta .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept of Life Sci, Faculty of Sci., Gakushuin University, Toshima, Tokyo, Japan

    Fumio Hanaoka

  2. Biosignal Research Center, Kobe University, Kobe, Japan

    Kaoru Sugasawa

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Yamada, T., Ohta, K. (2016). Regulation of Recombination by Chromatin. In: Hanaoka, F., Sugasawa, K. (eds) DNA Replication, Recombination, and Repair. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-55873-6_5

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