Complex chromatin motions for DNA repair

Abstract

A number of studies across different model systems revealed that chromatin undergoes significant changes in dynamics in response to DNA damage. These include local motion changes at damage sites, increased nuclear exploration of both damaged and undamaged loci, and directed motions to new nuclear locations associated with certain repair pathways. These studies also revealed the need for new analytical methods to identify directed motions in a context of mixed trajectories, and the importance of investigating nuclear dynamics over different time scales to identify diffusion regimes. Here we provide an overview of the current understanding of this field, including imaging and analytical methods developed to investigate nuclear dynamics in different contexts. These dynamics are essential for genome integrity. Identifying the molecular mechanisms responsible for these movements is key to understanding how their misregulation contributes to cancer and other genome instability disorders.