DDIAS shields vulnerable single-stranded DNA to direct neurogenesis and protect cancer cells.

Papers in Molecular Cell and Cell by Xue et al.1 and Tsukuda2 et al., respectively, reveal that DDIAS serves as an essential single-stranded DNA (ssDNA)-binding effector of the CIP2A-TOPBP1 complex that safeguards genome integrity by shielding post-replicative ssDNA lesions during mitosis, with implications for human cancer and neurodevelopment.