The repair of ionising radiation-induced damage to DNA.

Exposure of DNA to ionising radiation produces a variety of lesions. Double-strand breaks are repaired by recombinational pathways including a rapid single-strand annealing process which results in deletion of DNA sequences, and a double-strand break repair pathway which conserves genetic information. Single-strand breaks are repaired by the sequential action of a 3'-phosphodiesterase, DNA polymerase beta and a DNA ligase. Damaged bases are excised by DNA glycosylases, and a single-base gap introduced, either by the action of an AP endonuclease activity and a DNA deoxyribophosphodiesterase, or by the AP lyase activity of the glycosylase and an AP endonuclease. Repair is completed by DNA polymerase beta and a DNA ligase.