Dicer in action at replication-transcription collisions

Maintaining genome stability at sites of transcription and replication collision is a major challenge to cells. Recently, we have shown that in Schizosaccharomyces pombe Dicer promotes transcription termination at these sites, facilitating DNA replication and preventing replication fork restart that would otherwise occur via homologous recombination at the expense of genome stability. This novel role of Dicer could further explain its previously described role as a tumor suppressor.