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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2020 Feb 1.
Published in final edited form as: Trends Cell Biol. 2018 Nov 26;29(2):135–149. doi: 10.1016/j.tcb.2018.10.006

Figure 1: Overview of the DSB repair pathways and their associated risk for genomic stability.

Figure 1:

The repair products are boxed. The box color (from green to red) indicates the threat to genomic stability posed by the product of each pathway and sub-pathway. DNA synthesis is indicated by an arrow and newly-synthesized DNA by a dotted line. The long ssDNA associated with BIR has the potential to undergo MIR. More detailed mechanisms for D-loop cleavage and MIR are provided in Figures 2A and 2C, respectively. The reversibility of DSB resection provided by the Shieldin complex with fill-in by the DNA polymerase α-primase complex provides an unanticipated degree of flexibility in the choice of DSB repair between HR and EJ mechanisms [130]. Hence, EJ pathways are available not only on unresected or minimally resected DSB, they can also be engaged after extensive resection and subsequent fill-in.