Surviving Telomere Attrition with the MiDAS Touch

Cancer cells maintain telomere lengths through telomerase activity or by alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT). Using an engineered model system, a recent study by Min et al. reveals that the combination of BLM-mediated DNA resection and telomere clustering, a characteristic of ALT telomeres, catalyzes RAD52-dependent mitotic DNA synthesis (MiDAS) specifically at telomeres to drive ALT activity.