Chromosome organization and chromatin mobility are central to DNA metabolism. In particular, it has been recently shown by several labs that double strand breaks (DSBs) in yeast induce a change in chromatin mobility at the site of the damage. Intriguingly, DSB also induces a global mobility of the genome, at others, potentially undamaged positions. How mobility is regulated and what are the functional outcomes of these global changes in chromatin dynamics are, however, not yet fully understood. We present the current state of knowledge in light of the recent literature and discuss some perspectives opened by these discoveries towards genome stability.
Keywords: Chromatin; Double strand breaks; Mobility; Polymer physics; Yeast.