MPI-CBG researchers find repair crew of cells
New dataset of genes should accelerate the discovery of novel genes with roles in DNA repair and associated medical conditions.
DNA repair is essential to maintain genome integrity and genes with roles in DNA repair are frequently mutated in a variety of human diseases. However, a systematic analysis of this important DNA repair pathway in mammalian cells has not been reported.
A research team headed by Frank Buchholz, research group leader at the MPI-CBG, now present an esiRNA screen for genes involved in DNA double strand break repair. They report 61 genes that influenced the frequency of DNA repair, and characterize in detail one of the genes that decreased the frequency of DNA double-strand break repair. Moreover, their experiemtns identified KIAA0415 as a novel gene, which is mutated in patients with hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP), which implicates a link between HSP and DNA repair.
This is the first genome-scale survey of genes with roles in DNA repair in mammalian cells. "It provides a dataset that should accelerate the discovery of novel genes with roles in DNA repair and associated medical conditions", says Buchholz. (PLoS Biology, 29 June 2010)
Press release (german)