Histone deacetylases facilitate the accurate repair of broken forks.

We have recently uncovered that loss of the yeast histone deacetylases Rpd3 (Reduced Potassium Dependency 3) and Hda1 (Histone DeAcetylase 3) affects the cohesion between sister chromatids thus impairing repair of DNA damage at replication forks and enhancing genetic instability. Here we discuss the possible implications of our findings given that histone deacetylases are a promising chemotherapeutic target often used in combination with DNA damaging agents.