REPLICATING AND REPAIRING THE GENOME

Replicating and Repairing the Genome provides a concise overview of the fields of DNA replication and repair. The book is particularly appropriate for graduate students and advanced undergraduates, and scientists entering the field or working in related fields. The breadth of information regarding DNA replication and repair is vast and often difficult to absorb, with terminology that differs between experimental systems and with complex interconnections of these processes with other cellular pathways. This book provides simple conceptual descriptions of replication and repair pathways using mostly generic protein names, laying out the logic for how the pathways function and highlighting fascinating aspects of the underlying biochemical mechanisms and biology. The book incorporates extensive and informative diagrams and figures, as well as descriptions of a number of carefully chosen experiments that had major influences in the field.The process of DNA replication is explained progressively by starting with the system of a simple bacterial virus that uses only a few proteins, followed by the well-understood bacterial (E coli) system, and then culminating with the more complex eukaryotic systems. In the second half of the book, individual chapters cover key areas of DNA repair — postreplication repair of mismatches and incorporated ribonucleotides, direct damage reversal, excision repair, and DNA break repair, as well as the related areas of DNA damage tolerance (including translesion DNA polymerases) and DNA damage responses. The book closes with chapters that describe the huge impact of DNA replication and repair on aspects of human health and on modern biotechnology.