DNA-Formamidopyrimidine Glycosylase
A DNA repair enzyme that is an N-glycosyl hydrolase with specificity for DNA-containing ring-opened N(7)-methylguanine residues.
N-Glycosyl Hydrolases
DNA Glycosylases
A family of DNA repair enzymes that recognize damaged nucleotide bases and remove them by hydrolyzing the N-glycosidic bond that attaches them to the sugar backbone of the DNA molecule. The process called BASE EXCISION REPAIR can be completed by a DNA-(APURINIC OR APYRIMIDINIC SITE) LYASE which excises the remaining RIBOSE sugar from the DNA.
Deoxyribonuclease (Pyrimidine Dimer)
An enzyme which catalyzes an endonucleolytic cleavage near PYRIMIDINE DIMERS to produce a 5'-phosphate product. The enzyme acts on the damaged DNA strand, from the 5' side of the damaged site.
Guanine
Uracil-DNA Glycosidase
Thymine DNA Glycosylase
An enzyme that removes THYMINE and URACIL bases mispaired with GUANINE through hydrolysis of their N-glycosidic bond. These mispaired nucleotides generally occur through the hydrolytic DEAMINATION of 5-METHYLCYTOSINE to thymine.
DNA Damage
Injuries to DNA that introduce deviations from its normal, intact structure and which may, if left unrepaired, result in a MUTATION or a block of DNA REPLICATION. These deviations may be caused by physical or chemical agents and occur by natural or unnatural, introduced circumstances. They include the introduction of illegitimate bases during replication or by deamination or other modification of bases; the loss of a base from the DNA backbone leaving an abasic site; single-strand breaks; double strand breaks; and intrastrand (PYRIMIDINE DIMERS) or interstrand crosslinking. Damage can often be repaired (DNA REPAIR). If the damage is extensive, it can induce APOPTOSIS.
DNA Repair
The reconstruction of a continuous two-stranded DNA molecule without mismatch from a molecule which contained damaged regions. The major repair mechanisms are excision repair, in which defective regions in one strand are excised and resynthesized using the complementary base pairing information in the intact strand; photoreactivation repair, in which the lethal and mutagenic effects of ultraviolet light are eliminated; and post-replication repair, in which the primary lesions are not repaired, but the gaps in one daughter duplex are filled in by incorporation of portions of the other (undamaged) daughter duplex. Excision repair and post-replication repair are sometimes referred to as "dark repair" because they do not require light.
Deoxyguanosine
A nucleoside consisting of the base guanine and the sugar deoxyribose.
Pyrimidines
Comet Assay
A genotoxicological technique for measuring DNA damage in an individual cell using single-cell gel electrophoresis. Cell DNA fragments assume a "comet with tail" formation on electrophoresis and are detected with an image analysis system. Alkaline assay conditions facilitate sensitive detection of single-strand damage.
Furans
Endodeoxyribonucleases
Aflatoxin B1
A potent hepatotoxic and hepatocarcinogenic mycotoxin produced by the Aspergillus flavus group of fungi. It is also mutagenic, teratogenic, and causes immunosuppression in animals. It is found as a contaminant in peanuts, cottonseed meal, corn, and other grains. The mycotoxin requires epoxidation to aflatoxin B1 2,3-oxide for activation. Microsomal monooxygenases biotransform the toxin to the less toxic metabolites aflatoxin M1 and Q1.
Escherichia coli Proteins
Proteins obtained from ESCHERICHIA COLI.
DNA
A deoxyribonucleotide polymer that is the primary genetic material of all cells. Eukaryotic and prokaryotic organisms normally contain DNA in a double-stranded state, yet several important biological processes transiently involve single-stranded regions. DNA, which consists of a polysugar-phosphate backbone possessing projections of purines (adenine and guanine) and pyrimidines (thymine and cytosine), forms a double helix that is held together by hydrogen bonds between these purines and pyrimidines (adenine to thymine and guanine to cytosine).
Gamma Rays
Penetrating, high-energy electromagnetic radiation emitted from atomic nuclei during NUCLEAR DECAY. The range of wavelengths of emitted radiation is between 0.1 - 100 pm which overlaps the shorter, more energetic hard X-RAYS wavelengths. The distinction between gamma rays and X-rays is based on their radiation source.
DNA Adducts
The products of chemical reactions that result in the addition of extraneous chemical groups to DNA.
Substrate Specificity
Uracil
Uracil is a nitrogenous base, specifically a pyrimidine derivative, which constitutes one of the four nucleobases in the nucleic acid of RNA (ribonucleic acid), pairing with adenine via hydrogen bonds during base-pairing. (25 words)
Escherichia coli
A species of gram-negative, facultatively anaerobic, rod-shaped bacteria (GRAM-NEGATIVE FACULTATIVELY ANAEROBIC RODS) commonly found in the lower part of the intestine of warm-blooded animals. It is usually nonpathogenic, but some strains are known to produce DIARRHEA and pyogenic infections. Pathogenic strains (virotypes) are classified by their specific pathogenic mechanisms such as toxins (ENTEROTOXIGENIC ESCHERICHIA COLI), etc.
Pentoxyl
5-Hydroxymethyl-6-methyl- 2,4-(1H,3H)-pyrimidinedione. Uracil derivative used in combination with toxic antibiotics to lessen their toxicity; also to stimulate leukopoiesis and immunity. Synonyms: pentoksil; hydroxymethylmethyluracil.
Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry
Oxidative Stress
A disturbance in the prooxidant-antioxidant balance in favor of the former, leading to potential damage. Indicators of oxidative stress include damaged DNA bases, protein oxidation products, and lipid peroxidation products (Sies, Oxidative Stress, 1991, pxv-xvi).
DNA-(Apurinic or Apyrimidinic Site) Lyase
A DNA repair enzyme that catalyses the excision of ribose residues at apurinic and apyrimidinic DNA sites that can result from the action of DNA GLYCOSYLASES. The enzyme catalyzes a beta-elimination reaction in which the C-O-P bond 3' to the apurinic or apyrimidinic site in DNA is broken, leaving a 3'-terminal unsaturated sugar and a product with a terminal 5'-phosphate. This enzyme was previously listed under EC 3.1.25.2.
Deoxyribonuclease IV (Phage T4-Induced)
An enzyme which catalyzes the endonucleolytic cleavage of phosphodiester bonds at purinic or apyrimidinic sites (AP-sites) to produce 5'-Phosphooligonucleotide end products. The enzyme prefers single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) and was formerly classified as EC 3.1.4.30.
Base Sequence
The sequence of PURINES and PYRIMIDINES in nucleic acids and polynucleotides. It is also called nucleotide sequence.
Oxidation-Reduction
A chemical reaction in which an electron is transferred from one molecule to another. The electron-donating molecule is the reducing agent or reductant; the electron-accepting molecule is the oxidizing agent or oxidant. Reducing and oxidizing agents function as conjugate reductant-oxidant pairs or redox pairs (Lehninger, Principles of Biochemistry, 1982, p471).
Carbon-Oxygen Lyases
Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid
Base Pair Mismatch
The presence of an uncomplimentary base in double-stranded DNA caused by spontaneous deamination of cytosine or adenine, mismatching during homologous recombination, or errors in DNA replication. Multiple, sequential base pair mismatches lead to formation of heteroduplex DNA; (NUCLEIC ACID HETERODUPLEXES).
Thymine
Apurinic Acid
Hydrolysate of DNA in which purine bases have been removed.
Adenine
A purine base and a fundamental unit of ADENINE NUCLEOTIDES.
Molecular Sequence Data
Descriptions of specific amino acid, carbohydrate, or nucleotide sequences which have appeared in the published literature and/or are deposited in and maintained by databanks such as GENBANK, European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), National Biomedical Research Foundation (NBRF), or other sequence repositories.
Hypoxanthine
5-Methylcytosine
A methylated nucleotide base found in eukaryotic DNA. In ANIMALS, the DNA METHYLATION of CYTOSINE to form 5-methylcytosine is found primarily in the palindromic sequence CpG. In PLANTS, the methylated sequence is CpNpGp, where N can be any base.
Guanosine
A purine nucleoside that has guanine linked by its N9 nitrogen to the C1 carbon of ribose. It is a component of ribonucleic acid and its nucleotides play important roles in metabolism. (From Dorland, 28th ed)
Alkylation
Oligonucleotides
Polymers made up of a few (2-20) nucleotides. In molecular genetics, they refer to a short sequence synthesized to match a region where a mutation is known to occur, and then used as a probe (OLIGONUCLEOTIDE PROBES). (Dorland, 28th ed)
Amino Acid Sequence
Alkylating Agents
Highly reactive chemicals that introduce alkyl radicals into biologically active molecules and thereby prevent their proper functioning. Many are used as antineoplastic agents, but most are very toxic, with carcinogenic, mutagenic, teratogenic, and immunosuppressant actions. They have also been used as components in poison gases.
Methyl Methanesulfonate
An alkylating agent in cancer therapy that may also act as a mutagen by interfering with and causing damage to DNA.
Mutation
DNA Breaks, Single-Stranded
Interruptions in one of the strands of the sugar-phosphate backbone of double-stranded DNA.
Thermoproteaceae
A family of THERMOPROTEALES consisting of variable length rigid rods without septa. They grow either chemolithoautotrophically or by sulfur respiration. The four genera are: PYROBACULUM; THERMOPROTEUS; Caldivirga; and Thermocladium. (From Bergey's Manual of Systematic Bacteriology, 2d ed)
Base Pairing
Pairing of purine and pyrimidine bases by HYDROGEN BONDING in double-stranded DNA or RNA.
Catalysis
Pyrimidine Dimers
Oligodeoxyribonucleotides
Catalytic Domain
Binding Sites
Protein Binding
Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
DNA Polymerase beta
Nucleic Acid Heteroduplexes
Double-stranded nucleic acid molecules (DNA-DNA or DNA-RNA) which contain regions of nucleotide mismatches (non-complementary). In vivo, these heteroduplexes can result from mutation or genetic recombination; in vitro, they are formed by nucleic acid hybridization. Electron microscopic analysis of the resulting heteroduplexes facilitates the mapping of regions of base sequence homology of nucleic acids.
Models, Molecular
Cloning, Molecular
The insertion of recombinant DNA molecules from prokaryotic and/or eukaryotic sources into a replicating vehicle, such as a plasmid or virus vector, and the introduction of the resultant hybrid molecules into recipient cells without altering the viability of those cells.
Bacillus Phages
Viruses whose host is Bacillus. Frequently encountered Bacillus phages include bacteriophage phi 29 and bacteriophage phi 105.
HeLa Cells
Mutagenesis
Process of generating a genetic MUTATION. It may occur spontaneously or be induced by MUTAGENS.
Pyrobaculum
A genus of rod-shaped, almost rectangular ARCHAEA, in the family THERMOPROTEACEAE. Organisms are facultatively aerobic or strictly anaerobic, grow on various organic substrates, and are found in continental solfataras.