MRE11-RAD50-NBS1 Complex Is Sufficient to Promote Transcription by RNA Polymerase II at Double-Strand Breaks by Melting DNA Ends

Sharma et al. show that in an in vitro reconstituted system, the DNA damage-sensing complex MRE11-RAD50-NBS1 (MRN) and RNA polymerase II are sufficient to synthesize RNA transcripts from broken DNA ends. MRN supports transcription by melting DNA ends and allowing RNA polymerase II to initiate RNA synthesis.