While most known types of DNA damage are fixed by our cells’ in-house DNA repair mechanisms, some forms of DNA damage evade repair and can persist for many years, new research shows. This means that ...

We previously found that tumors with DNA polymerase ε (Pol ε) point mutations display an unusually high C-to-T mutation rate in CpG dinucleotides, with mutations enriched in the leading strand of ...

We oriented the clusters by their lesion-containing strand, and designated the first mutation site to be replicated over on the lesion-containing template as the upstream (5′) mutation and subsequent ...

A team of researchers at VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center has identified a new pathway through which mutations in the tumor suppressor p53 gene—found very frequently in human tumors—hijack DNA ...

From the time we are conceived and through old age, genetic mutations accumulate in all our tissues, eluding the body’s typically efficient DNA repair machinery and potentially affecting our health ...

Scientists have discovered that a gene normally considered a DNA-protecting "good guy" can become dangerous when cells make too much of it. The gene, EXO1, acts like molecular scissors that help ...

When cells in the human body divide, they must first make accurate copies of their DNA. The DNA replication exercise is one of the most important processes in all living organisms and is fraught with ...

The accumulation of mutations in DNA is often mentioned as an explanation for the aging process, but it remains just one hypothesis among many. A team from the University of Geneva (UNIGE), in ...

Mitochondria are well known as the powerhouses of the cell because of their energy generating capabilities. These little organelles are very special, because they also carry their own tiny little ...

Mutations are changes in the molecular "letters" that make up the DNA code, the blueprint for all living cells. Some of these changes can have little effect, but others can lead to diseases, including ...

Only around two percent of the human genome codes for proteins, and while those proteins carry out many important functions of the cell, the rest of the genome cannot be ignored. However, for decades ...

A reanalysis of whole-genome data from 130 children conceived after the Chernobyl disaster has identified a statistically significant increase in a specific type of DNA mutation in the offspring of ...