Nucleotide excision repair: a versatile and smart toolkit

Nucleotide excision repair (NER) is a major pathway to deal with bulky adducts induced by various environmental toxins in all cellular organisms. The two sub-pathways of NER, global genome repair (GGR) and transcriptioncoupled repair (TCR), differ in the damage recognition modes. In this review, we describe the molecular mechanism of NER in mammalian cells, especially the details of damage recognition steps in both sub-pathways. We also introduce new sequencing methods for genome-wide mapping of NER, as well as recent advances about NER in chromatin by these methods. Finally, the roles of NER factors in repairing oxidative damages and resolving R-loops are discussed.

Automated summary

This review describes the molecular mechanism and damage recognition steps of nucleotide excision repair (NER) in mammalian cells, as well as introduces new sequencing methods for genome-wide mapping and recent advances about NER in chromatin. The roles of NER factors in repairing oxidative damages and resolving R-loops are also discussed.