Open AccessDNA base repair – recognition and initiation of catalysis
Author(s) -
Dalhus Bjørn,
Laerdahl Jon K.,
Backe Paul H.,
Bjørås Magnar
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
fems microbiology reviews
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.91
H-Index - 212
eISSN - 1574-6976
pISSN - 0168-6445
DOI - 10.1111/j.1574-6976.2009.00188.x
Subject(s) - base excision repair , dna repair , dna damage , biology , nucleotide excision repair , dna mismatch repair , dna , dna polymerase beta , dna glycosylase , base pair , dna polymerase , biochemistry , microbiology and biotechnology
Endogenous DNA damage induced by hydrolysis, reactive oxygen species and alkylation modifies DNA bases and the structure of the DNA duplex. Numerous mechanisms have evolved to protect cells from these deleterious effects. Base excision repair is the major pathway for removing base lesions. However, several mechanisms of direct base damage reversal, involving enzymes such as transferases, photolyases and oxidative demethylases, are specialized to remove certain types of photoproducts and alkylated bases. Mismatch excision repair corrects for misincorporation of bases by replicative DNA polymerases. The determination of the 3D structure and visualization of DNA repair proteins and their interactions with damaged DNA have considerably aided our understanding of the molecular basis for DNA base lesion repair and genome stability. Here, we review the structural biochemistry of base lesion recognition and initiation of one‐step direct reversal (DR) of damage as well as the multistep pathways of base excision repair (BER), nucleotide incision repair (NIR) and mismatch repair (MMR).