Recognition and processing of damaged DNA.

Base excision-repair, which is required for correction of spontaneous hydrolytic and oxidative damage to DNA as well as lesions inflicted by alkylating agents, is a relatively well understood repair pathway. Mammalian factors involved in this pathway are reviewed, with emphasis on current uncertainties. Most DNA replication and repair enzymes in mammalian cell nuclei, e.g. DNA polymerases alpha, beta, delta, and epsilon, have direct counterparts in yeast. In contrast, the abundant enzymes in mammalian cell nuclei that bind and are activated specifically by DNA strand interruptions, poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase and DNA-dependent protein kinase, have not been detected in yeast; nor has p53, which is elevated in response to DNA strand breaks. We have found a family of four distinct DNA ligases in human cell nuclei, whereas only a single DNA ligase has been detected in yeast. It would appear that the cellular responses to DNA strand breaks may differ markedly between higher and lower eukaryotes.