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Visualizing Single-Stranded DNA Foci in the G1 Phase of the Cell Cycle
Published on: December 22, 2023
DNA repair in mammalian cells: Direct DNA damage reversal: elegant solutions for nasty problems
A P M Eker1, C Quayle, I Chaves
1Department of Genetics, Center for Biomedical Genetics, Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Abstract:
The genomic integrity of all living organisms is constantly jeopardized by physical [e.g. ultraviolet (UV) light, ionizing radiation] and chemical (e.g. environmental pollutants, endogenously produced reactive metabolites) agents that damage the DNA. To overcome the deleterious effects of DNA lesions, nature evolved a number of complex multi-protein repair processes with broad, partially overlapping substrate specificity. In marked contrast, cells may use very simple repair systems, referred to as direct DNA damage reversal, that rely on a single protein, remove lesions in a basically error-free manner, show high substrate specificity, and do not involve incision of the sugar-phosphate backbone or base excision. This concise review deals with two types of direct DNA damage reversal: (i) the repair of alkylating damage by alkyltransferases and dioxygenases, and (ii) the repair of UV-induced damage by spore photoproduct lyases and photolyases. (Part of a Multi-author Review).
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