DNA double-strand breaks can be repaired by two competing mechanisms, non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ) and homologous recombination (HR). Whether one or the other repair pathway is favored depends on the availability of an undamaged template DNA that allows for homology-directed repair. The tumor suppressor proteins 53BP1 and BRCA1 are considered antagonistic players in this repair pathway choice, as 53BP1 restrains DNA end resection, whereas BRCA1, together with its partner protein BARD1,

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... laces 53BP1 from damaged replicated chromatin and promotes HR. How cells switch from a 53BP1-dominated to a BRCA1-dominated response as they progress through the cell cycle is incompletely understood. Here we reveal, using high-throughput microscopy and applying single cell normalization to control for increased genome size as cells replicate their DNA, that 53BP1 recruitment to damaged replicated chromatin is inefficient in both BRCA1-proficient and BRCA1-deficient cells, in comparison to 53BP1 accumulation at damaged unreplicated chromatin. These findings substantiate a dual switch model from a 53BP1-dominated response in unreplicated chromatin to a BRCA1-BARD1-dominated response in replicated chromatin, in which replication-coupled dilution of 53BP1's binding mark H4K20me2 functionally cooperates with BRCA1-BARD1-mediated suppression of 53BP1 binding. More generally, we suggest that appropriate normalization of single cell data, e.g. to DNA content, provides additional layers of information, which can be critical for quantifying and interpreting cellular phenotypes.