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Related Concept Videos

Nucleotide Excision Repair01:08

Nucleotide Excision Repair

Overview
Nucleotide Excision Repair01:38

Nucleotide Excision Repair

DNA Distortion and Damage
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...
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Mutations01:35

Mutations

Mutations are changes in the sequence of DNA. These changes can occur spontaneously or they can be induced by exposure to environmental factors. Mutations can be characterized in a number of different ways: whether and how they alter the amino acid sequence of the protein, whether they occur over a small or large area of DNA, and whether they occur in somatic cells or germline cells.
Chromosomal Alterations Are Large-Scale Mutations
While point mutations are changes in a single nucleotide in...
Mutations01:39

Mutations

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Homologous Recombination02:31

Homologous Recombination

The basic reaction of homologous recombination (HR) involves two chromatids that contain DNA sequences sharing a significant stretch of identity. One of these sequences uses a strand from another as a template to synthesize DNA in an enzyme-catalyzed reaction. The final product is a novel amalgamation of the two substrates. To ensure an accurate recombination of sequences, HR is restricted to the S and G2 phases of the cell cycle. At these stages, the DNA has been replicated already and the...

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Visualizing and Quantifying Endonuclease-Based Site-Specific DNA Damage
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Ultraviolet-driven self-repair in chimeric d(GAUU) outcompetes damage formation.

Sarah J Crucilla1,2, Jia Zeng2,3, Dian Ding3

  • 1Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.

Chemical Communications (Cambridge, England)
|June 16, 2026
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Ancient nucleic acids survived early Earth

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Area of Science:

  • Astrobiology
  • Biochemistry
  • Molecular Biology

Background:

  • Nucleic acid stability under UV irradiation was crucial for life's persistence.
  • Pyrimidines are susceptible to UV photodamage, forming cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers (CPDs).
  • Intrinsic UV-induced self-repair may have aided ancient nucleic acid survival before enzymatic repair.

Purpose of the Study:

  • Investigate the disparity in self-repair quantum yields between RNA and DNA sequences.
  • Experimentally measure the self-repair of a chimeric sequence d(GAU=U).
  • Determine the factors influencing UV self-repair efficiency in oligonucleotides.

Main Methods:

  • UV/Vis spectroscopy
  • High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis
  • Measurement of quantum yields for damage formation and self-repair.

Main Results:

  • The chimeric sequence d(GAU=U) exhibited a self-repair quantum yield of 1.16% upon 285 nm irradiation.
  • This yield surpassed previously reported self-repair yields for canonical RNA and DNA sequences.
  • The self-repair quantum yield of d(GAUU) exceeded its net damage quantum yield, a novel finding.
  • Damage formation in d(UU) showed a damage quantum yield of 0.74%.

Conclusions:

  • Backbone conformation and sequence significantly influence nucleic acid self-repair.
  • Chimeric sequences demonstrate enhanced UV resistance compared to canonical sequences.
  • Chimeric sequences may have served as UV-resistant precursors to modern DNA.