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Ageing, repetitive genomes and DNA damage

Abstract

The mitochondrial production of reactive oxygen species is inversely proportional to longevity in animals. A key question now is, which molecules, among those that are oxidized, affect the lifespan of the organism most significantly?

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Figure 1: Types of oxidative DNA damage.
Figure 2: The homologous and non-homologous DNA end-joining pathways.

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Acknowledgements

This article is dedicated to Dr. H.T. Blumenthal for his continuing contributions to pathology and gerontology. The authors would like to thank H.T. Blumenthal, R. Sohal, N. Arnheim, D. Shibata, D. van den Berg and Y. Ma for comments on the manuscript and C. Finch, A. Britt, E. Hefner, R. Lanner, C. Hsieh, J. Tower and P. Hasty for very helpful discussions. Work in the authors' laboratory is supported by the National Institutes of Health.

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Correspondence to Michael R. Lieber.

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DATABASES

OMIM

Ataxia telangiectasia

progeria

Rothmund–Thomson syndrome

Werner syndrome

Swiss-Prot

DNA ligase IV

Lamin A

Ku70

Ku86

WRN

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Lieber, M., Karanjawala, Z. Ageing, repetitive genomes and DNA damage. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 5, 69–75 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrm1281

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