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DNA repair

Crosslink and shield: protecting abasic sites from error-prone repair

Nature Structural & Molecular Biology volume 26, pages 530–532 (2019)Cite this article

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Abasic sites are among the most frequent DNA lesions, and when they occur within single-stranded DNA, their repair can give rise to genomic instability and mutations. One mechanism for the protection of abasic sites involves covalent attachment of 5-hydroxymethylcytosine-binding, embryonic stem cell–specific (HMCES) protein to DNA. Now, two research groups have elucidated the structural basis of the action of HMCES and its bacterial equivalent, YedK, revealing a unique and intriguing chemistry of DNA–protein crosslink formation.

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Fig. 1: Mechanism of protection of abasic sites in single-stranded DNA.

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  1. Laboratory of Protein Structure, International Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, Laboratory of Protein Structure, Warsaw, Poland

    Marcin Nowotny

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  1. Marcin Nowotny
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Correspondence to Marcin Nowotny.

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Nowotny, M. Crosslink and shield: protecting abasic sites from error-prone repair. Nat Struct Mol Biol 26, 530–532 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41594-019-0264-4

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