MRE11, together with RAD50 and NBS1 (MRE11-RAD50-NBS1 complex), locates to the end of the double-strand breaks (DSBs) locus (Kinner et al., 2008; Wang et al., 2014) and activates ATM through the interaction between ATM and NBS1 (Bian et al., 2019), triggering ataxia telangiectasia and ATR activation. The gene discussed is RAD50; the disease is ataxia telangiectasia.