DNA Repair and Recombination

In order to be passed through generations, genomic DNA must be undamaged and error-free. However, every day, DNA in a cell undergoes several thousand to a …

One of the common DNA damages is the chemical alteration of single bases by alkylation, oxidation, or deamination. The altered bases cause mispairing and …

Since the discovery of the two BER pathways, there has been a debate about how a cell chooses one pathway over the other and the factors determining this …

Overview Exposure to mutagens can damage DNA and result in bulky lesions that distort the double-helix structure or impede proper transcription. Damaged …

Translesion (TLS) polymerases rescue stalled DNA polymerases at sites of damaged bases by replacing the replicative polymerase and installing a nucleotide …

The double-stranded structure of DNA has two major advantages. First, it serves as a safe repository of genetic information where one strand serves as the …

In response to DNA damage, cells can pause the cell cycle to assess and repair the breaks. However, the cell must check the DNA at certain critical stages …

The basic reaction of homologous recombination (HR) involves two chromatids that contain DNA sequences sharing a significant stretch of identity. One of …

DNA replication is initiated at sites containing predefined DNA sequences known as origins of replication. DNA is unwound at these sites by the …

Other than maintaining genome stability via DNA repair, homologous recombination plays an important role in diversifying the genome. In fact, the …

Transposons make up a significant part of genomes of various organisms. Therefore, it is believed that transposition played a major evolutionary role in …

DNA-only transposons are called autonomous transposons since they code for the enzyme transposase that is required for the transposition mechanism. …

Retroviruses and retrotransposons both insert copies of their genetic elements into the genome of the host cell. Thus, the viral genes are passed on when …

LTR retrotransposons are class I transposable elements with long terminal repeats flanking an internal coding region. These elements are less abundant in …

As the name suggests, non-LTR retrotransposons lack the long terminal repeats characteristic of the LTR retrotransposons. Additionally, both LTR and …

Because the DNA segments are cut and reorganized in a direction-specific manner, site-specific recombination has emerged as an efficient genetic …