Nautilus
Special focus on genome instability
The March issue of Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology presents a web focus on genome instability. The integrity of the genome is crucial for tumour suppression and for the propagation of genomic information to subsequent generations. DNA damage can result from cellular metabolism, exogenous genotoxic agents or routine errors in DNA replication and recombination. To combat these attacks and maintain genome integrity, cells have evolved a response system that induces cell cycle arrest, allowing sufficient time for DNA repair by specialized proteins. The DNA damage response system activates the appropriate DNA repair pathway or, in the case of irreparable damage,