Histone marks control many cellular processes including DNA damage repair. This review will focus primarily on the active histone mark H3K36me3 in the regulation of DNA damage repair and the maintenance of genomic stability after DNA damage. There are diverse clues showing H3K36me3 participates in DNA damage response by directly recruiting DNA repair machinery to set the chromatin at a "ready" status, leading to a quick response upon damage. Reduced H3K36me3 is associated with low DNA repair efficiency. This review will also place a main emphasis on the H3K36me3-mediated DNA damage repair in the tumorigenesis of the newly found oncohistone mutant tumors. Gaining an understanding of different aspects of H3K36me3 in DNA damage repair, especially in cancers, would share the knowledge of chromatin and DNA repair to serve to the drug discovery and patient care.
Keywords: Acute myeloid leukemia; Clear cell renal cell carcinoma; DNA damage; DNA mismatch repair; Diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma; H3K36me3; Homologous recombination; Nonhomologous end-joining; Oncohistones.
© The Author(s) 2020.