Reagents For Investigation Of DNA Damage

Rockland Immunochemicals has developed a series of phospho specific antibodies to ATM protein kinase. ATM, the gene mutated in the hereditary disease ataxia-telangiectasia, codes for a protein kinase that acts as a master regulator of cellular responses to DNA double-strand breaks. It is normally inactive and the question of how it is activated in the event of DNA damage (due to ionizing radiation for instance) is central to understanding its function. ATM protein is now shown to be present in undamaged cells as an inactive dimer. Low doses of ionizing radiation, which induce only a few DNA breaks, activate at least half of the total ATM protein present, possibly in response to changes in chromatin structure.