Structure of the uracil-DNA N-glycosylase (UNG) from Deinococcus radiodurans.

Uracil-DNA glycosylases are DNA-repair enzymes that catalyse the removal of promutagenic uracil from single- and double-stranded DNA, thereby initiating the base-excision repair (BER) pathway. Uracil in DNA can occur by mis-incorporation of dUMP in place of dTMP during DNA synthesis or by deamination of cytosine, resulting in U-A or U-G mispairs. The radiation-resistant bacterium Deinococcus radiodurans has an elevated number of uracil-DNA glycosylases compared with most other organisms. The crystal structure of dr0689 (uracil-DNA N-glycosylase), which has been shown to be the major contributor to the removal of mis-incorporated uracil bases in crude cell extracts of D. radiodurans, is reported.