Transcription-Replication Conflicts: Orientation Matters.

ABSTRACT

Interference between DNA replication and transcription represents a major source of genomic instability. In this issue of Cell, Lang et al. and Hamperl et al. show that head-on collisions, but not codirectional collisions, impede fork progression in bacteria and in human cells by promoting the formation of RNA-DNA hybrids known as R-loops.