View article

Spontaneous double‐stranded DNA breaks (DSBs) frequently occur within the genome of all living organisms and must be well repaired for survival. Recently, more important roles of the DSB repair pathways that were previously thought to be minor pathways, such as single‐strand annealing (SSA), have been shown. Nevertheless, the biochemical mechanisms and applications of the SSA pathway in genome editing have not been updated.

Understanding the molecular mechanism of SSA is important to design potential applications in gene editing. This review provides insights into the recent progress of SSA studies and establishes a model for their potential applications in precision genome editing.

The SSA mechanism involved in DNA DSB repair appears to be activated by a complex signaling cascade starting with broken end sensing and 5′‐3 …