title: New insights into the mechanism of DNA mismatch repair.
abstract: The genome of all organisms is constantly being challenged by endogenous and exogenous sources of DNA damage. Errors like base:base mismatches or small insertions and deletions, primarily introduced by DNA polymerases during DNA replication are repaired by an evolutionary conserved DNA mismatch repair (MMR) system. The MMR system, together with the DNA replication machinery, promote repair by an excision and resynthesis mechanism during or after DNA replication, increasing replication fidelity by up-to-three orders of magnitude. Consequently, inactivation of MMR genes results in elevated mutation rates that can lead to increased cancer susceptibility in humans. In this review, we summarize our current understanding of MMR with a focus on the different MMR protein complexes, their function and structure. We also discuss how recent findings have provided new insights in the spatio-temporal regulation and mechanism of MMR.
authors: German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Im Neuenheimer Feld 581, 69120, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors: Gloria X
authors: GX
authors: Reyes
authors: German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Im Neuenheimer Feld 581, 69120, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors: Tobias T
authors: TT
authors: Schmidt
authors: Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Moores-UCSD Cancer Center and Institute of Genomic Medicine, University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA, 92093-0669, USA.
authors: Richard D
authors: RD
authors: Kolodner
authors: German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Im Neuenheimer Feld 581, 69120, Heidelberg, Germany. h.hombauer@dkfz.de.
authors: Hans
authors: H
authors: Hombauer
mesh_terms: D053843:DNA Mismatch Repair; D004261:DNA Replication; D056890:Eukaryota; D006801:Humans