bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/782490; this version posted September 25, 2019. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission. PHF2 regulates homology-directed DNA repair by controlling the resection of DNA double strand breaks Ignacio Alonso-de Vega1,2, M. Cristina Paz-Cabrera1, Wouter W. Wiegant3, Cintia Checa-Rodríguez4, Pablo Huertas4, Raimundo Freire1,2,5, Haico van Attikum3 and Veronique A.J. Smits1,2,5* 1Unidad de Investigación, Hospital Universitario de Canarias, Tenerife, Spain. 2Instituto de Tecnologías Biomédicas, Universidad de La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain. 3Department of Human Genetics, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands. 4Centro Andaluz de Biología Molecular y Medicina Regenerativa-CABIMER, Sevilla, Spain. 5Universidad Fernando Pessoa Canarias, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain. *Correspondence: Unidad de Investigación, Hospital Universitario de Canarias, Ofra s/n, 38320 La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain. Phone +34 922 678107, email:
[email protected] 1 bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/782490; this version posted September 25, 2019. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission. ABSTRACT Post-translational histone modifications and chromatin remodelling play a critical role in the mechanisms controlling the integrity of the genome. Here we identify histone lysine demethylase PHF2 as a novel regulator of the DNA damage response by regulating the balance between DNA damage-induced focus formation by 53BP1 and BRCA1, critical factors in the pathway choice for DNA double strand break repair.