New class of DNA repair enzyme discovered
Thursday, October 29, 2015 - 17:50
in Biology & Nature
The new type of DNA repair enzyme, AlkD on the left, can identify and remove a damaged DNA base without forcing it to physically "flip" to the outside of the DNA backbone, which is how all the other DNA repair enzymes in its family work, as illustrated by the human AAG enzyme on the right. The enzymes are shown in grey, the DNA backbone is orange, normal DNA base pairs are yellow, the damaged base is blue and its pair base is green. This year's Nobel Prize in chemistry was given to three scientists who each focused on one piece of the DNA repair puzzle. Now a new study, reported online Oct. 28 in the journal Nature, reports the discovery of a new class of DNA repair enzyme.