Bacterial spores possess an enormous resistance to ultraviolet (UV) radiation. This is largely due to a unique DNA repair enzyme, Spore Photoproduct Lyase (SP lyase) that repairs a specific UV-induced DNA lesion, the spore photoproduct (SP), through an unprecedented radical-based mechanism. Unlike DNA photolyases, SP lyase belongs to the emerging superfamily of radical S-adenosyl-l-methionine (...

CS: Cockayne syndrome ERCC5: Excision Repair Cross-complementing Rodent Repair Deficiency Complementation Group 5 gene NER: Nucleotide excision repair UV: Ultraviolet WES: Whole exome sequencing XP: Xeroderma pigmentosum XP-G: Xeroderma pigmentosum complementation group G INTRODUCTION Xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) is an autosomal recessive genodermatosis caused by a germline loss of function in DN...

The regulation of DNA repair during serum stimulation of quiescent cells was examined in normal human cells, in fibroblasts from three xeroderma pigmentosum complementation groups (A, C, and D), in xeroderma pigmentosum variant cells, and in ataxia telangiectasia cells. The regulation of nucleotide excision repair was examined by exposing cells to ultraviolet irradiation at discrete intervals a...

Histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors such as the phenyl hydroxamic acid PCI-24781 have emerged recently as a class of therapeutic agents for the treatment of cancer. Recent data showing synergy of HDAC inhibitors with ionizing radiation and other DNA-damaging agents have suggested that HDAC inhibitors may act, in part, by inhibiting DNA repair. Here we present evidence that HDAC enzymes are im...

DNA polymerases are the key enzymes for DNA synthesis involved in DNA replication, recombination, and repair. These enzymes undergo manifold contacts with the primer-template-substrates reaching up to several nucleotide pairs beyond the catalytic centre. To evaluate these enzyme contacts with the DNA substrates we applied novel synthetic steric probes in functional studies. We found that throug...

I completed my medical studies at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm but have always been devoted to basic research. My longstanding interest is to understand fundamental DNA repair mechanisms in the fields of cancer therapy, inherited human genetic disorders and ancient DNA. I initially measured DNA decay, including rates of base loss and cytosine deamination. I have discovered several impo...

Background: Impaired DNA repair mechanism is one of the main causes of tumor genesis. Study of intrinsic radiosensitivity of cancer patients in a non-target tissue (e.g. peripheral blood) might show the extent of DNA repair deficiency of cells in affected individuals and might be used a predictor of cancer predisposition. Methods: Initial radiation-induced DNA damage (ratio of Tail DNA/Head DN...

among the lesions induced by chemotherapeutic drugs, dna double-strand breaks (dsb) are considered the most serious ones that can result in cell death, if it is not properly repaired. homologous recombination (hr) pathway is the main system for dsb repair and xrcc3 has a key role in this pathway. protein activity can be affected by the xrcc3 polymorphism. thus, in this study, the association be...

DNA double-strand breaks can be repaired by homologous recombination involving the formation and resolution of Holliday junctions. In Escherichia coli, the RuvABC resolvasome and the RecG branch-migration enzyme have been proposed to act in alternative pathways for the resolution of Holliday junctions. Here, we have studied the requirements for RuvABC and RecG in DNA double-strand break repair ...

Protein ubiquitination plays an important role in initiating the DNA damage response. Following DNA damage, E2 ubiquitin conjugating enzymes are crucial for catalyzing substrate ubiquitination that recruits downstream DNA repair factors to DNA lesions. To identify novel E2 conjugating enzymes important for initiating the DNA-damage-induced ubiquitination cascade, we screened most of the known E...