Accurate repair of DNA double-strand breaks is essential to life. Indeed, defective DNA
double-strand break repair can lead to toxicity and large scale sequence rearrangements
that cause cancer and promote premature aging. Here, we highlight the two major repair
systems for handling DNA double-strand breaks: homologous recombination and non-
homologous end joining. To clarify recombination mechanisms, we present animations that
illustrate DNA strand movements. In addition to describing how these pathways operate, we …