Abstract
Damage to the genetic information of a cell can be caused by a variety of internal and external sources. As DNA damage can lead to mutations and eventually cell death, these lesions need to be repaired efficiently. Cells harbor many different and evolutionarily conserved pathways for their repair which can be utilized depending on the respective type of DNA damage. These different mechanisms make up a tightly regulated network needed for the maintenance of genomic stability. For some specific kinds of DNA damage, means of direct enzymatic reversal have been developed throughout evolution, for example the repair of UV radiation-induced photoproducts. Damaged bases or nucleotide modifications can be repaired through the base excision pathway or the nucleotide excision pathway, respectively. When replicative DNA polymerases incorporate the non-matching nucleotides, the so-called mismatch repair pathway is used to repair non-complementary bases in the DNA helix. There are also different damage tolerance and repair pathways employed when replication forks meet damaged DNA. In order to repair the most toxic DNA lesions – double strand breaks (DSBs) – cells have a number of different repair pathways available. The outcome of these ways to repair double strand breaks can vary enormously in respect of the genetic information. It can be conservative if homologous recombination is applied or non-conservative if nonhomologous end-joining or single-strand annealing is used for repair. These DSB repair pathways also form the basis of several new techniques for genome engineering, a field with tremendous potential for basic research and agronomy.
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Further Readings
Aguilera A, Rothstein R. Molecular genetics of recombination. Berlin/New York: Springer; 2007.
Friedberg EC, Elledge SJ, Lehmann AR. DNA repair, mutagenesis, and other responses to DNA damage: a subject collection from Cold Spring Harbor perspectives in biology. Cold Spring Harbor: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory; 2013.
Friedberg EC, Walker GC, Siede W. DNA repair and mutagenesis. Washington, DC: ASM Press; 2006.
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Schröpfer, S., Knoll, A., Trapp, O., Puchta, H. (2014). Nucleus and Genome: DNA Recombination and Repair. In: Howell, S. (eds) Molecular Biology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-0263-7_2-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-0263-7_2-1
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