title: Alkyltransferase-like proteins: molecular switches between DNA repair pathways.
abstract: Alkyltransferase-like proteins (ATLs) play a role in the protection of cells from the biological effects of DNA alkylation damage. Although ATLs share functional motifs with the DNA repair protein and cancer chemotherapy target O⁶-alkylguanine-DNA alkyltransferase, they lack the reactive cysteine residue required for alkyltransferase activity, so its mechanism for cell protection was previously unknown. Here we review recent advances in unraveling the enigmatic cellular protection provided by ATLs against the deleterious effects of DNA alkylation damage. We discuss exciting new evidence that ATLs aid in the repair of DNA O⁶-alkylguanine lesions through a novel repair cross-talk between DNA-alkylation base damage responses and the DNA nucleotide excision repair pathway.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology, Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA.
authors.forename: Julie L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Tubbs
authors.forename: John A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Tainer
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D004260:DNA Repair; D006801:Humans; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D019853:O(6)-Methylguanine-DNA Methyltransferase / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D015398:Signal Transduction
chemical_list: D004247:DNA; D019853:O(6)-Methylguanine-DNA Methyltransferase