Document Type

Article

Original Publication Date

2012

Journal/Book/Conference Title

ISRN Molecular Biology

Volume

2012

DOI of Original Publication

10.5402/2012/345805

Comments

Originally published at http://dx.doi.org/10.5402/2012/345805

Date of Submission

August 2014

Abstract

Most DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) formed in a natural environment have chemical modifications at or near the ends that preclude direct religation and require removal or other processing so that rejoining can proceed. Free radical-mediated DSBs typically bear unligatable 3′-phosphate or 3′-phosphoglycolate termini and often have oxidized bases and/or abasic sites near the break. Topoisomerase-mediated DSBs are blocked by covalently bound peptide fragments of the topoisomerase. Enzymes capable of resolving damaged ends include polynucleotide kinase/phosphatase, which restores missing 5′-phosphates and removes 3′-phosphates; tyrosyl-DNA phosphodiesterases I and II (TDP1 and TDP2), which remove peptide fragments of topoisomerases I and II, respectively; and the Artemis and Metnase endonucleases, which can trim damaged overhangs of diverse structure. TDP1 as well as APE1 can remove 3′-phosphoglycolates and other 3′ blocks, while CtIP appears to provide an alternative pathway for topoisomerase II fragment removal. Ku, a core DSB joining protein, can cleave abasic sites near DNA ends. The downstream processes of patching and ligation are tolerant of residual damage and can sometimes proceed without complete damage removal. Despite these redundant pathways for resolution, damaged ends appear to be a significant barrier to rejoining, and their resolution may be a rate-limiting step in repair of some DSBs.

Rights

Copyright © 2012 Lawrence F. Povirk. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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VCU Pharmacology and Toxicology Publications

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