Replication fork reversal is a rapidly emerging and remarkably frequent mechanism of fork stabilization in response to genotoxic insults. Here, we summarize recent findings that uncover key molecular determinants for reversed fork formation and describe how the homologous recombination factors BRCA1, BRCA2, and RAD51 protect these structures from extended nucleolytic degradation.
Keywords: BRCA1; BRCA2; DNA repair; DNA replication; fork regression; genome instability; homologous recombination; replication fork restart; replication fork reversal; replication stress.
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