Week 2 Flashcards
What is the term for increased propensity for mutations, including DNA base changes and structural alterations, in the genomic DNA?
Genomic instability
Describe the differences between Exogenous and Endogenous genetic damage.
Exogenous: involved influences from our physical environment (e.g. UV light, ionizing radiation, or carcinogens)
Endogenous: involve unintended consequence for metabolic processes (e.g. oxidation, nitrosylation, or hydolysis of DNA strands, errors in DNA replication.)
What does UV light do to DNA?
Pyrimidine bases can absorb UV light to form abnormal covalent bond called Pyrimidine dimers. These dimers distort the structure of a DNA helix, because they bond with each other rather than their counterparts.
What effects do pyrimidine dimers have?
DNA lesions that create structural defects, such as pyrimidine dimers, interfere with nuclear processes such as transcription and replication.
What are two ways endogenous sources of DNA lesions can damage individual nucleotides?
Through methylation and oxidation
True/False: ROS (reactive oxygen species) can be created from endogenous sources (i.e. many enzyme-catalyzed reactions, the mitochondrial electron transport chain, Fenton reactions, etc.)
True
How are ROS created?
When O2 accepts an extra electron, it becomes a superoxide anion O2-, an ROS.
Because ROS’s are so reactive to DNA, what sort of damage can they do?
Altering the structure of individual nucleotides, introducing covalent bonds between strands, or severing phosphodiesterase bonds leading to strand breaks.
How can pyrimidine dimers be created and why are they significant?
UV light create pyrimidine dimers. If left uncorrected, they will interfere with DNA replication and transcription.
Somatic mutations are mutations affecting tissue that is not passed on to offspring. Name an example disease that is a somatic mutation.
McCune-Albright syndrome, disease affecting bone, skin, and several endocrine tissues.
Germline mutations affect tissue uniquely designed to produce sex cells. They are inherited. Would the mutation that exhibits cafe au lait spots on skin be considered a germline mutation?
Yes, Mutation in the NF-1 gene, results in a patient with neurofibromatosis type 1, where the patient will have changes in skin pigmentation.
What is the name of the type of repair where cells can attempt to repair damaged nucleotide bases without breaking the phosphodiester bonds that hold nucleotides together?
Direct repair
What is the name of the enzyme that can break pyrimidine dimers in photo reactivation?
Photolyase enzyme
Do human possess Photolyase?
No, only plants
When do humans use direct repair mechanism?
What is the enzyme used?
To address spontaneous methylation.
Enzyme: O6-methylguanine methyltransferase (MGMT) detects and removes methyl groups.
What sort of repair will occur if the damage is just on one strand of the helix?
Use the complementary strand as a template for repair.
What repair occurs if the damage affects only a single nucleotide?
Base excision repair! (BER)
3 type of base excision repair: 1) _____ 2) _____ 3) _____
1) Introduction of uracil into DNA during replication
2) Deamination
3) Depurination (where a nucleotide loses it base entirely)
How is the process of BER, initiated? Enzyme used?
DNA Glycosylase, recognizes the damaged nucleotide and removes its base, creating an AP (apurine/apyrimidine) site.
What if the DNA lesion involves more than one nucleotide?
Nucleotide excision repair (NER) “Remove and replace” mechanism. Instead of a single base, a stretch of nucleotides containing the lesion is removed during NER.
Which phase of the cell cycle does NER primarily occur in?
G1 Phase
What type of damage does NER repair, that photolyase does in plants?
Pyrimidine dimers
How does NER differ from BER?
NER can recognize a broader range of single-strand lesions and removes an oligonucleotide instead of excising a single nucleotide.
What about when incorrect bases are incorporated into newly synthesized strands, what protein recognizes this mistake?
“Mut” class proteins recognize the mismatch and recruit endonuclease. From there, mismatch repair follows a similar strategy as NER.