Answer to Question 4 from December, 2003

4. In one sentence, please describe the role of the Artemis protein in non-homologous end joining (4 points).

After activation as a consequence of phosphorylation by DNA-PK, the Artemis protein functions as an endo- and exonuclease to cut single-stranded DNA loops and trim away single-stranded ends, thus generating clean blunt ends that can be ligated together.

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