SIRT7 clears the way for DNA repair.

Histone modification by reversible lysine acetylation is a key regulatory mechanism in chromatin and nuclear signaling, whose deregulation is linked to aging, cancer, and other diseases. New work by Vazquez et al (2016) uncovers a role for the sirtuin family deacetylase SIRT7, which controls epigenetic maintenance of oncogenic gene expression programs, mitochondrial homeostasis, and ribosome biogenesis, in promoting genomic stability and DNA repair via site‐specific deacetylation of a damage‐associated histone mark, H3K18Ac.