Lans Hannes, Vermeulen Wim
Department of Genetics, Medical Genetics Center, Erasmus MC, P.O. Box 2040, 3000 CA Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Mol Biol Int. 2011;2011:542795. doi: 10.4061/2011/542795. Epub 2011 Aug 17.
Nucleotide excision repair (NER) plays an essential role in many organisms across life domains to preserve and faithfully transmit DNA to the next generation. In humans, NER is essential to prevent DNA damage-induced mutation accumulation and cell death leading to cancer and aging. NER is a versatile DNA repair pathway that repairs many types of DNA damage which distort the DNA helix, such as those induced by solar UV light. A detailed molecular model of the NER pathway has emerged from in vitro and live cell experiments, particularly using model systems such as bacteria, yeast, and mammalian cell cultures. In recent years, the versatility of the nematode C. elegans to study DNA damage response (DDR) mechanisms including NER has become increasingly clear. In particular, C. elegans seems to be a convenient tool to study NER during the UV response in vivo, to analyze this process in the context of a developing and multicellular organism, and to perform genetic screening. Here, we will discuss current knowledge gained from the use of C. elegans to study NER and the response to UV-induced DNA damage.
核苷酸切除修复（NER）在生命各领域的许多生物体中发挥着至关重要的作用，以保护DNA并将其准确无误地传递给下一代。在人类中，NER对于防止DNA损伤诱导的突变积累以及导致癌症和衰老的细胞死亡至关重要。NER是一种多功能的DNA修复途径，可修复多种使DNA螺旋结构扭曲的DNA损伤类型，例如由太阳紫外线诱导的损伤。NER途径的详细分子模型已通过体外和活细胞实验得出，特别是使用细菌、酵母和哺乳动物细胞培养物等模型系统。近年来，线虫秀丽隐杆线虫在研究包括NER在内的DNA损伤反应（DDR）机制方面的多功能性日益明显。特别是，秀丽隐杆线虫似乎是一种便捷的工具，可用于研究体内紫外线反应期间的NER，在发育中的多细胞生物体背景下分析这一过程，并进行遗传筛选。在此，我们将讨论利用秀丽隐杆线虫研究NER以及对紫外线诱导的DNA损伤反应所获得的当前知识。
