Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 27, 2026

Formaldehyde-assisted Isolation of Regulatory Elements to Measure Chromatin Accessibility in Mammalian Cells
Published on: April 2, 2018
Formaldehyde catabolism is essential in cells deficient for the Fanconi anemia DNA-repair pathway
Ivan V Rosado1, Frédéric Langevin, Gerry P Crossan
1Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, UK.
Abstract:
Metabolism is predicted to generate formaldehyde, a toxic, simple, reactive aldehyde that can damage DNA. Here we report a synthetic lethal interaction in avian cells between ADH5, encoding the main formaldehyde-detoxifying enzyme, and the Fanconi anemia (FA) DNA-repair pathway. These results define a fundamental role for the combined action of formaldehyde catabolism and DNA cross-link repair in vertebrate cell survival.
Related Concept Videos
Overview of DNA Repair
Chemically...
Overview of DNA Repair
Chemically...
Base Excision Repair
The first step of...
Base Excision Repair
The first step of...
Nucleotide Excision Repair
Cells are regularly exposed to mutagens—factors in the environment that can damage DNA and generate mutations. UV radiation is one of the most common mutagens and is estimated to introduce a significant number of changes in DNA. These include bends or kinks in the structure, which can block DNA replication or transcription. If these errors are not fixed, the damage can cause mutations, which in turn can result in cancer or disease depending on which sequences are...
Nucleotide Excision Repair

