DNA damage occurs continuously as a result of various factors—
intracellular metabolism, replication, and exposure to genotoxic agents
, such as ionizing radiation and chemotherapy. If left unrepaired, this damage could result in changes or mutations within the cell genomic material.
What causes the most damage to DNA?
Ultraviolet and other types of radiation
can damage DNA in the form of DNA strand breaks. This involves a cut in one or both DNA strands; double-strand breaks are especially dangerous and can be mutagenic, since they can potentially affect the expression of multiple genes.
What are the sources of DNA damage?
Endogenous sources of DNA damage include
hydrolysis, oxidation, alkylation, and mismatch of DNA bases
; sources for exogenous DNA damage include ionizing radiation (IR), ultraviolet (UV) radiation, and various chemicals agents.
What causes DNA damage response?
DDR is a ubiquitous pathway that can be activated by various sources of DNA damage, including
ionizing radiation (IR)
, ultraviolet light, external chemical hazards, oxidative stress, and errors occurring during DNA replication.
What are the three major types of damage that occur to DNA?
DNA bases can be damaged by: (1) oxidative processes, (2) alkylation of bases, (3) base loss caused by the hydrolysis of bases, (4) bulky adduct formation, (5) DNA crosslinking, and
(6) DNA strand breaks
, including single and double stranded breaks. An overview of these types of damage are described below.
What foods help repair DNA?
One food shown to repair DNA is
carrots
. They are rich in carotenoids, which are powerhouses of antioxidant activity. A study that had participants eating 2.5 cups of carrots per day for three weeks found, at the end, the subjects' blood showed an increase in DNA repair activity.
What is it called when DNA is damaged?
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.
Can you fix DNA damage?
Most damage to DNA is
repaired by removal of the damaged bases followed by resynthesis of the excised region
. Some lesions in DNA, however, can be repaired by direct reversal of the damage, which may be a more efficient way of dealing with specific types of DNA damage that occur frequently.
Can you reverse DNA damage?
Direct reversal
Cells are known to eliminate three types of damage to their DNA by chemically reversing it. These mechanisms do not require a template, since the types of damage they counteract can occur in only one of the four bases.
What happens if your DNA changes?
When a gene mutation occurs, the nucleotides are in the wrong order which means the coded instructions are wrong and
faulty proteins are made or control switches are changed
. The body can't function as it should. Mutations can be inherited from one or both parents.
How can you prevent DNA damage?
Once DNA damage is recognized in the nuclear genome, bulky adducts, small miscoding lesions, single-strand breaks, or non-complex double-strand breaks (DSBs) can be directly repaired by
nucleotide excision repair (NER)
, base excision repair (BER), and non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ), respectively.
What are the types of DNA repair?
At least five major DNA repair pathways—
base excision repair (BER), nucleotide excision repair (NER), mismatch repair (MMR), homologous recombination (HR) and non-homologous end joining (NHEJ)
—are active throughout different stages of the cell cycle, allowing the cells to repair the DNA damage.
How can I improve my DNA repair?
Higher intensity activities in particular (
running, swimming, fast cycling
) appeared to be associated with the greatest benefit to DNA repair capacity. Biologically, physical activity may increase DNA repair by inducing expression of enzymes which dispose of harmful oxygen radicals and repair DNA damage .
What are DNA repair pathways?
DNA repair pathways are
triggered to maintain genetic stability and integrity
when mammalian cells are exposed to endogenous or exogenous DNA-damaging agents. The deregulation of DNA repair pathways is associated with the initiation and progression of cancer.
What does UV light do to DNA?
Ultraviolet (UV) light
kills cells by damaging their DNA
. The light initiates a reaction between two molecules of thymine, one of the bases that make up DNA.
What is DNA repair system?
DNA repair, any
of several mechanisms by which a cell maintains the integrity of its genetic code
. DNA repair ensures the survival of a species by enabling parental DNA to be inherited as faithfully as possible by offspring. It also preserves the health of an individual.
