Monitoring DNA repair consequences of ATM signaling using simultaneous fluorescent readouts

Abstract

The repair of deleterious DNA double strand breaks is required to maintain genome integrity. The efficacy in which this occurs relies upon the available machinery and is guided by factors that include cell cycle status, availability of donor template, and the local chromosome structure. Therefore at a single DNA breakpoint there are different outcomes that can occur. The Traffic light reporter (TLR) assay protocol is a dual fluorescent readout that has the ability to monitor simultaneous homologous recombination and non-homologous end joining activity in response to DNA damage. This provides insight to determine the upstream functionality of either pathway mediated through ATM.