Transcript lecture 7

Mechanisms of DNA repair
Dr.Aida Fadhel Biawi 2014
Base excision
1- It is responsible primarily for removing small, nonhelix-distorting base lesions caused by oxidation,
alkylation, hydrolysis, or deamination.
2- BER is initiated by DNA glycosylases, which
recognize and remove specific damaged or
inappropriate bases, forming AP sites. These are
then cleaved by an AP endonuclease. The resulting
single-strand break can then be processed by either
short-patch (where a single nucleotide is replaced) or
long-patch BER (where 2-10 new nucleotides are
synthesized).
Defects in a variety of DNA repair pathways lead to
cancer predisposition, and BER appears to follow this
pattern. Deletion of BER genes increases the mutation
rate in a variety of organisms, predicting that loss of
BER could contribute to the development of cancer.
Indeed, somatic mutations in Pol β have been found in
30% of human cancers like colon cancer.
DNA repair by base excision.
* Nucleotide excision repair (NER), which recognizes bulky, helixdistorting lesions
Xeroderma pigmentosum (Xeroderma pigmentosum, or XP, is an
autosomal recessive genetic disorder of DNA repair in which the ability to
repair damage caused by ultraviolet (UV) light is deficient.
In E. coli, proteins UvrA, UvrB, and UvrC are
involved in removing the damaged
nucleotides (e.g., the dimer induced by UV
light). The gap is then filled by DNA
polymerase I and DNA ligase.
DNA repair by nucleotide excision
* Mismatch repair MMR , which corrects errors of DNA
replication and recombination that result in mispaired (but
undamaged) nucleotides .
Also, Mutations in the human of the Mut
proteins affect genomic stability, which is
implicated in most human cancers.
Specifically colorectal cancers are attributed
to mutations in the genes encoding the
MutS and MutL, like Muir-Torre
Syndrome (MTS) which is associated with
skin tumors.
Muir-Torre Syndrome (Muir–Torre
syndrome (MTS) is an inherited cancer
syndrome, that is develop cancers of the
colon, breast, and genitourinary tract, and
skin lesions,.
DNA repair and Aging
Aging can be defined as progressive
functional decline and increasing mortality
over time.
- DNA damage accumulates with age, and
DNA repair defects can cause phenotypes
resembling premature aging.
DNA repair and Cancer Therapy
The DNA repair teams (green) in a cancer cell can undo
the damage caused by drugs or radiation therapy,
enabling cells to survive. Repair inhibitors (blue) are
designed to block repairs so cancer's defenses fail.