DNA repair protein XRCC4 is a protein

Protein

Proteins are biochemical compounds consisting of one or more polypeptides typically folded into a globular or fibrous form, facilitating a biological function. A polypeptide is a single linear polymer chain of amino acids bonded together by peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of...

 that in humans is encoded by the XRCC4 gene

Gene

A gene is a molecular unit of heredity of a living organism. It is a name given to some stretches of DNA and RNA that code for a type of protein or for an RNA chain that has a function in the organism. Living beings depend on genes, as they specify all proteins and functional RNA chains...

.

Function

Pathology

Mutations in XRCC4 are associated with embryonic lethality in mice specimens. This can be mitigated by crossing the XRCC4 knockouts with p53

P53

p53 , is a tumor suppressor protein that in humans is encoded by the TP53 gene. p53 is crucial in multicellular organisms, where it regulates the cell cycle and, thus, functions as a tumor suppressor that is involved in preventing cancer...

 mutants, suggesting that lethality is a result of p53 mediated apoptosis. In the hybrid XRCC4 deficient specimens, V(D)J recombination

V(D)J recombination

VJ recombination, also known as somatic recombination, is a mechanism of genetic recombination in the early stages of immunoglobulin and T cell receptors production of the immune system...

 is severely impaired.

Interactions

XRCC4 has been shown to interact

Protein-protein interaction

Protein–protein interactions occur when two or more proteins bind together, often to carry out their biological function. Many of the most important molecular processes in the cell such as DNA replication are carried out by large molecular machines that are built from a large number of protein...

 with LIG4

LIG4

LIG4 is a human gene that encodes the protein DNA Ligase IV.-Further reading:...

 and XLF Protein.

Further reading