Principles of Genetics: DNA Repair

These flashcards cover key vocabulary and concepts related to DNA repair mechanisms discussed in BIOL 300.

Direct Reversal

A DNA repair process that restores mutated bases to their original state.

Base Excision Repair

A repair mechanism that removes a damaged nitrogenous base and the surrounding nucleotide.

Nucleotide Excision Repair

A repair system that excises a segment of DNA containing a damaged base, involving incision, excision, synthesis, and ligation.

Mismatch Repair

A DNA repair process that corrects errors made during DNA replication, such as incorrect base pairs.

Recombination

A process that uses homologous sequences in the genome to repair DNA errors.

Non-Homologous End Joining

A repair mechanism that ligates two broken ends of DNA together without requiring a homologous template.

Error-prone repair

A last-resort DNA repair system that incorporates random bases to bypass replication blocks.

Glycosylase

An enzyme that cleaves the bond between a damaged base and DNA during base excision repair.

MutS, MutL, MutH

Proteins involved in the mismatch repair process that identify and correct mismatched base pairs.

AP site

A location in DNA that has lost its nitrogenous base during the base excision repair process.

Polymerase

An enzyme that fills in gaps during DNA repair after damaged sections have been removed.

DNA ligase

An enzyme that seals nicks in the DNA backbone after repair processes such as base excision and nucleotide excision.