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Updated: Mar 10, 2026

Visualizing and Quantifying Endonuclease-Based Site-Specific DNA Damage
Published on: August 21, 2021
A Magic Spot in Genome Maintenance
Aviram Rasouly1, Bibhusita Pani2, Evgeny Nudler1
1Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY 10016, USA; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY 10016, USA.
Abstract:
Nucleotide excision repair (NER) is the key DNA repair system that eliminates the majority of DNA helix-distorting lesions. RNA polymerase (RNAP) expedites the recognition of DNA damage by NER components via transcription-coupled DNA repair (TCR). In bacteria, a modified nucleotide ppGpp ('magic spot') is a pleiotropic second messenger that mediates the response to nutrient deficiencies by altering the initiation properties of RNAP. In this review, we discuss newly elucidated roles of guanosine 5'-diphosphate 3'-diphosphate (ppGpp) in transcription elongation that couple this alarmone to DNA damage repair and maintenance.
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