Mre11-Rad50-Nbs1 is a keystone complex connecting DNA repair machinery, double-strand break signaling, and the chromatin template

The Mre1 1-Rad50-Nbs1 (MRN) complex is providing paradigm-shifting results of exceptional biomedical interest. MRN is among the earliest respondents to DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs), and MRN mutations cause the human cancer predisposition diseases Nijmegen breakage syndrome and ataxia telangiectasia-like disorder (ATLD). MRN's 3-protein multidomain composition promotes its central architectural, structural, enzymatic, sensing, and signaling functions in DSB responses. To organize the MRN complex, the Mre 11 exonuclease directly binds Nbs 1, DNA, and Rad50. Rad50, a structural maintenance of chromosome (SMC) related protein, employs its ATP-binding cassette (ABC) ATPase, Zn hook, and coiled coils to bridge DSBs and facilitate DNA end processing by Mre 11. Contributing to MRN regulatory roles, Nbs I harbors N-terminal phosphopeptide interacting FHA and BRCT domains, as well as C-terminal ataxia telangiectasia mutated (ATM) kinase and Mre I I interaction domains. Current emerging structural and biological evidence suggests that MRN has 3 coupled critical roles in DSB sensing, stabilization, signaling, and effector scaffolding: (1) expeditious establishment of protein - nucleic acid tethering scaffolds for the recognition and stabilization of DSBs; (2) initiation of DSB sensing, cell-cycle checkpoint signaling cascades, and establishment of epigenetic marks via the ATM kinase; and (3) functional regulation of chromatin remodeling in the vicinity of a DSB.