Accessing DNA damage in chromatin: insights from transcription

Recently, there has been a convergence of fields studying the processing of DNA, such as transcription, replication, and repair. This convergence has been centered around the packaging of DNA in chromatin. Chromatin structure affects ail aspects of DNA processing because it modulates access of prote ins to DNA. Therefore, a central theme has become the mechanism(s) for acce ssing DNA in chromatin. It seems likely that mechanisms involved in one of these processes may also be used in others. For example, the discovery of t ranscriptional coactivators with histone acetyltransferase activity and chr omatin remodeling complexes has provided possible mechanisms required for e fficient repair of DNA in chromatin. (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.