Phosphorylated CtIP promotes the endonuclease of MRE11-RAD50-NBS1 The cleavage is dependent on the nuclease of MRE11 and the ATPase of RAD50 NBS1 and CtIP have structural roles to promote DNA cleavage by MRE11-RAD50 The endonuclease preferentially cleaves 5′ DNA strands near protein adducts