Molecular mechanisms of DNA damage and repair: progress in plants

Abstract

Despite stable genomes of all living organisms, they are subject to damage by chemical and physical agents in the environment (e.g., UV and ionizing radiations, chemical mutagens, fungal and bacterial toxins, etc.) and by free radicals or alkylating agents endogenously generated in metabolism. DNA is also damaged because of errors during its replication. The DNA lesions produced by these damaging agents could be altered base, missing base, mismatch base, deletion or insertion, linked pyrimidines, strand breaks, intra- and inter-strand cross-links.