DNA repair refers to a collection of processes by which a cell identifies and corrects damage to the DNA molecules that encode its genome.
In human cells, both normal metabolic activities and environmental factors such as UV light can cause DNA damage, resulting in as many as 1 million individual molecular lesions per cell per day.
Many of these lesions cause structural damage to the DNA molecule and can alter or eliminate the cell's ability to transcribe the gene that the affected DNA encodes.
Other lesions induce potentially harmful mutations in the cell's genome, which affect the survival of its daughter cells after it undergoes mitosis.
Consequently, the DNA repair process must be constantly active so it can respond rapidly to any damage in the DNA structure.
For more information about the topic DNA repair, read the full article at Wikipedia.org, or see the following related articles:
Vector (biology) Traditionally in medicine, a vector is an organism that does not cause disease itself but which spreads infection by conveying pathogens from one ... >
read more
Tumor suppressor gene A tumor suppressor gene is a gene that reduces the probability that a cell in a multicellular organism will turn into a tumor cell. A mutation or ... >
read more
Chromosomal crossover Homologous recombination is the process by which two chromosomes, paired up during prophase 1 of meiosis, exchange some distal portion of their DNA. ... >
read more
BRCA2 BRCA2 is a human gene that is involved in the repair of chromosomal damage and belongs to a class of genes known as tumor suppressor genes. Tumor ... >
read more
Introduction to genetics Genetics is the study of how living things receive common traits from previous generations. These traits are described by the genetic information ... >
read more
Mutation In biology, mutations are changes to the genetic material (usually DNA or RNA). Mutations can be caused by copying errors in the genetic material ... >
read more
BRCA1 BRCA1 (breast cancer 1, early onset) is a human gene that belongs to a class of genes known as tumor suppressor genes. Like many other tumor ... >
read more
Programmed cell death Programmed cell death (PCD) is the deliberate suicide of an unwanted cell in a multicellular organism. In contrast to necrosis, which is a form of ... >
read more
Plant cell There are three major classes of plant cells that can then differentiate to form the tissue structures of roots, stems, and leaves. (The three ... >
read more
Genetic recombination Genetic recombination is the transmission-genetic process by which the combinations of alleles observed at different loci in two parental individuals ... >
read more
Note: This page refers to an article that is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the article DNA repair at Wikipedia.org. See the Wikipedia copyright page for more details. Editor's Note: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.
Recommend this page on Facebook, Twitter,
and Google +1:
Other bookmarking and sharing tools: