HeLa-S3 (ATCC, purchased and authenticated by STR analysis in 2016) and HeLa GFP-RAD52 (this study) were cultured in DMEM (Sigma-Aldrich) supplemented with 10% FCS (Sigma-Aldrich or BioSell) and 1% NEAA (Merck Millipore). Immortalised human primary fibroblast 82–6 hTERT (WT)36 (link), HSC-62 hTERT (BRCA2*)21 (link) and 2BN hTERT (XLF*)37 (link) cells were cultured in MEM (Sigma-Aldrich) with 20% FCS and 1% NEAA. U2OS EJ2-GFP reporter cells24 (link) were cultured in 2 μg/ml puromycin DMEM, supplemented with 10% FCS and 1% NEAA. WT and KO U2OS cell lines (RAD52, POLθ, RAD52/POLθ)26 (link) were cultured in DMEM (Sigma-Aldrich) supplemented with 10% FCS (Sigma-Aldrich or BioSell), 1% Glutamine (Gibco). Cells were routinely tested for mycoplasma contamination by PCR (Minerva Biolabs). All cell lines were maintained at 37 °C in a 5% CO2 incubator.