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Eme1
Crossover junction endonuclease EME1 is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the ''EME1'' gene. It forms a complex with MUS81 which resolves Holliday junctions. In mammalian cells the EME1/MUS81 protein complex is redundant for DNA damage repair with GEN1 endonuclease. In mice, EME1/MUS81 and GEN1 redundantly contribute to Holliday junction processing. When homozygous mutations of Gen1 and Eme1 were combined in mice the result was synthetic lethality at an early embryonic stage. Homozygosity for Gen1 mutations did not cause a DNA repair deficiency in mice. But when mice were both homozygous mutant for Gen1 and also heterozyous for an Emc1 mutation, they showed increased sensitivity to DNA damaging agents. This finding, indicated a redundant role of GEN1 and EME1 in DNA repair. Gen1 and Emc1 were also shown to have redundant roles in meiotic Meiosis (; , since it is a reductional division) is a special type of cell division of germ cells in sexually-reproduci ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
GEN1, Holliday Junction 5' Flap Endonuclease
GEN1, Holliday junction 5' flap endonuclease is a protein that in humans is encoded by the GEN1 gene. Function This gene encodes a member of the Xeroderma pigmentosum, Rad2/xeroderma pigmentosum group G nuclease family, whose members are characterized by N-terminal and internal xeroderma pigmentosum group G nuclease domains followed by helix-hairpin-helix domains and disordered C-terminal domains. The protein encoded by this gene is involved in resolution of Holliday junction, Holliday junctions, which are intermediate four-way structures that covalently link DNA during homologous recombination and double-strand break repair. The protein resolves Holliday junctions by creating dual incisions across the junction to produce nicked duplex products that can be Ligation (molecular biology), ligated. In addition, this protein has been found to localize to Centrosome, centrosomes where it has been implicated in regulation of centrosome integrity. Alternative splicing results in multipl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Enzyme
Enzymes () are proteins that act as biological catalysts by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrate (chemistry), substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different molecules known as product (chemistry), products. Almost all metabolism, metabolic processes in the cell (biology), cell need enzyme catalysis in order to occur at rates fast enough to sustain life. Metabolic pathways depend upon enzymes to catalyze individual steps. The study of enzymes is called ''enzymology'' and the field of pseudoenzyme, pseudoenzyme analysis recognizes that during evolution, some enzymes have lost the ability to carry out biological catalysis, which is often reflected in their amino acid sequences and unusual 'pseudocatalytic' properties. Enzymes are known to catalyze more than 5,000 biochemical reaction types. Other biocatalysts are Ribozyme, catalytic RNA molecules, called ribozymes. Enzymes' Chemical specificity, specific ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gene
In biology, the word gene (from , ; "... Wilhelm Johannsen coined the word gene to describe the Mendelian units of heredity..." meaning ''generation'' or ''birth'' or ''gender'') can have several different meanings. The Mendelian gene is a basic unit of heredity and the molecular gene is a sequence of nucleotides in DNA that is transcribed to produce a functional RNA. There are two types of molecular genes: protein-coding genes and noncoding genes. During gene expression, the DNA is first copied into RNA. The RNA can be directly functional or be the intermediate template for a protein that performs a function. The transmission of genes to an organism's offspring is the basis of the inheritance of phenotypic traits. These genes make up different DNA sequences called genotypes. Genotypes along with environmental and developmental factors determine what the phenotypes will be. Most biological traits are under the influence of polygenes (many different genes) as well as g ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
MUS81
Crossover junction endonuclease MUS81 is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the ''MUS81'' gene. In mammalian somatic cells, MUS81 and another structure specific DNA endonuclease, XPF (ERCC4), play overlapping and essential roles in completion of homologous recombination. The significant overlap in function between these enzymes is most likely related to processing joint molecules such as D-loops and nicked Holliday junctions. Meiosis MUS81 is a component of a minor chromosomal crossover (CO) pathway in the meiosis of budding yeast, plants and vertebrates. However, in the protozoan ''Tetrahymena thermophila'', MUS81 appears to be part of an essential (if not the predominant) CO pathway. The MUS81 pathway also appears to be the predominant CO pathway in the fission yeast ''Schizosaccharomyces pombe''. The relationship of the CO pathway to the overall process of meiotic recombination is illustrated in the accompanying diagram. Recombination during meiosis is often initiat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Holliday Junctions
A Holliday junction is a branched nucleic acid structure that contains four double-stranded arms joined. These arms may adopt one of several conformations depending on buffer salt concentrations and the sequence of nucleobases closest to the junction. The structure is named after Robin Holliday, the molecular biologist who proposed its existence in 1964. In biology, Holliday junctions are a key intermediate in many types of genetic recombination, as well as in double-strand break repair. These junctions usually have a symmetrical sequence and are thus mobile, meaning that the four individual arms may slide through the junction in a specific pattern that largely preserves base pairing. Additionally, four-arm junctions similar to Holliday junctions appear in some functional RNA molecules. Immobile Holliday junctions, with asymmetrical sequences that lock the strands in a specific position, were artificially created by scientists to study their structure as a model for natura ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
DNA Repair
DNA repair is a collection of processes by which a cell identifies and corrects damage to the DNA molecules that encode its genome. In human cells, both normal metabolic activities and environmental factors such as radiation can cause DNA damage, resulting in tens of thousands of individual molecular lesions per cell per day. Many of these lesions cause structural damage to the DNA molecule and can alter or eliminate the cell's ability to transcribe the gene that the affected DNA encodes. Other lesions induce potentially harmful mutations in the cell's genome, which affect the survival of its daughter cells after it undergoes mitosis. As a consequence, the DNA repair process is constantly active as it responds to damage in the DNA structure. When normal repair processes fail, and when cellular apoptosis does not occur, irreparable DNA damage may occur, including double-strand breaks and DNA crosslinkages (interstrand crosslinks or ICLs). This can eventually lead to malig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Holliday Junction
A Holliday junction is a branched nucleic acid structure that contains four double-stranded arms joined. These arms may adopt one of several conformations depending on buffer salt concentrations and the sequence of nucleobases closest to the junction. The structure is named after Robin Holliday, the molecular biologist who proposed its existence in 1964. In biology, Holliday junctions are a key intermediate in many types of genetic recombination, as well as in double-strand break repair. These junctions usually have a symmetrical sequence and are thus mobile, meaning that the four individual arms may slide through the junction in a specific pattern that largely preserves base pairing. Additionally, four-arm junctions similar to Holliday junctions appear in some functional RNA molecules. Immobile Holliday junctions, with asymmetrical sequences that lock the strands in a specific position, were artificially created by scientists to study their structure as a model for natu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zygosity
Zygosity (the noun, zygote, is from the Greek "yoked," from "yoke") () is the degree to which both copies of a chromosome or gene have the same genetic sequence. In other words, it is the degree of similarity of the alleles in an organism. Most eukaryotes have two matching sets of chromosomes; that is, they are diploid. Diploid organisms have the same loci on each of their two sets of homologous chromosomes except that the sequences at these loci may differ between the two chromosomes in a matching pair and that a few chromosomes may be mismatched as part of a chromosomal sex-determination system. If both alleles of a diploid organism are the same, the organism is homozygous at that locus. If they are different, the organism is heterozygous at that locus. If one allele is missing, it is hemizygous, and, if both alleles are missing, it is nullizygous. The DNA sequence of a gene often varies from one individual to another. These gene variants are called alleles. While some g ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mutation
In biology, a mutation is an alteration in the nucleic acid sequence of the genome of an organism, virus, or extrachromosomal DNA. Viral genomes contain either DNA or RNA. Mutations result from errors during DNA or viral replication, mitosis, or meiosis or other types of damage to DNA (such as pyrimidine dimers caused by exposure to ultraviolet radiation), which then may undergo error-prone repair (especially microhomology-mediated end joining), cause an error during other forms of repair, or cause an error during replication ( translesion synthesis). Mutations may also result from insertion or deletion of segments of DNA due to mobile genetic elements. Mutations may or may not produce detectable changes in the observable characteristics ( phenotype) of an organism. Mutations play a part in both normal and abnormal biological processes including: evolution, cancer, and the development of the immune system, including junctional diversity. Mutation is the ultima ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Synthetic Lethality
Synthetic lethality is defined as a type of genetic interaction where the combination of two genetic events results in cell death or death of an organism. Although the foregoing explanation is wider than this, it is common when referring to synthetic lethality to mean the situation arising by virtue of a combination of deficiencies of two or more genes leading to cell death (whether by means of apoptosis or otherwise), whereas a deficiency of only one of these genes does not. In a synthetic lethal genetic screen, it is necessary to begin with a mutation that does not result in cell death, although the effect of that mutation could result in a differing phenotype (slow growth for example), and then systematically test other mutations at additional loci to determine which, in combination with the first mutation, causes cell death arising by way of deficiency or abolition of expression. Synthetic lethality has utility for purposes of molecular targeted cancer therapy. The first example ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
DNA Damage (naturally Occurring)
DNA damage is an alteration in the chemical structure of DNA, such as a break in a strand of DNA, a nucleobase missing from the backbone of DNA, or a chemically changed base such as 8-OHdG. DNA damage can occur naturally or via environmental factors, but is distinctly different from mutation, although both are types of error in DNA. DNA damage is an abnormal chemical structure in DNA, while a mutation is a change in the sequence of base pairs. DNA damages cause changes in the structure of the genetic material and prevents the replication mechanism from functioning and performing properly. The DNA damage response (DDR) is a complex signal transduction pathway which recognizes when DNA is damaged and initiates the cellular response to the damage. DNA damage and mutation have different biological consequences. While most DNA damages can undergo DNA repair, such repair is not 100% efficient. Un-repaired DNA damages accumulate in non-replicating cells, such as cells in the brains ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
