| DNA repair | <molecular biology> Each cell has a series of special enzymes to correct the errors in DNA structure and sequence. This protects genetic information against environmental damage and replication errors and restore the DNA to its original state. (25 Jun 1999) |
|---|---|
| DNA repair gene | A gene engaged in DNA repair. When a DNA repair gene is altered, mutations pile up throughout the DNA. (12 Dec 1998) |
| DNA repair pathway | The sequence of steps in the repair of DNA. Each step is governed by an enzyme. (12 Dec 1998) |
| error-prone repair | <molecular biology> A type of DNA repair which occurs when both nucleotides in a base pair are missing, such that it is not possible to maintain accuracy. In general, the repair proteins replace the missing nucleotides randomly. The idea is that bad DNA is better than no DNA at all. (06 Mar 1998) |
| excision repair | <molecular biology> Mechanism for the repair of environmental damage to one strand of DNA (loss of purines due to thermal fluctuations, formation of pyrimidine dimers by UV irradiation). The site of damage is recognised, excised by an endonuclease, the correct sequence is copied from the complementary strand by a polymerase and the ends of this correct sequence are joined to the rest of the strand by a ligase. The term is sometimes restricted to bacterial systems where the polymerase also acts as endonuclease. (11 Nov 1997) |