Relationship of DNA Regulation Processes in Different Repair Mechanisms

Abstract

During the process of DNA replication, vulnerability to DNA damage increases. This creates a problem that our bodies complex physiological process can offer a solution to.  Recent studies have uncovered five major DNA repair mechanisms that are regulated by specific gene expression: the nucleotide excision repair (NER), base excision repair (BER), mismatch repair (MMR), homologous recombination repair (HRR) and nonhomologous end joining (NHEJ). The articles I have chosen to review show relationships between the specific DNA repair genes and also how they relate to entire repair mechanisms. The importance of uncovering how complex the homeostatic regulation of DNA repair is could lead us to uncover specific genes or other regulatory malfunctions that promote tumorgenisis, and thus provide more insight to prevent the spread of cancer. Recent progress has been made in uncovering a specific protein, p53, which has a pivotal role in the cellular stress response. P53 acts as a promoter for cellular stress responses such as BER and NER. Once it has been activated, however, there are also processes that it undergoes that must deactivate the protein in order for the cell to continue the growth process. Also, in recent reseach, the relationship between growth stimulation and DNA repair genes was observed.  Repair genes that couple with MMR and HRR were tested to observe the effect of growth stimulation on their expression. Alongside this research, another article discusses the wild type p53-induced phosphotase acts as a critical homeostatic regulator of the DNA damage response (DDR). The current status of knowledge in this area is limited due to the complexity of feedback processes that occur during all the stages of DNA repair. Thereby opening up opportunities for future research in this area of cell biology.