Figure 1.

Schematic Representation of Focal Point of the FA Signaling Network. FA signaling is centered by FA group D2 protein (FANCD2) and its paralog (FANCI), which form the focal point of FA signaling. Both upstream and downstream of this focal point contain an undefined number of players. The focal point converges the effects of upstream players in response to a variety of cellular insults and works simultaneously with downstream players to guard genome stability and to ultimately prevent humans from contracting a variety of diseases, including aging and cancer. Further, each player of DDR/FA signaling (1) is working relatively in a phase of DNA damage responses. For example, FANCD2 and FANCI may mainly act as transducers; however, they can also be sensors or effectors as the dotted bold lines indicate at the right.