Mutagenesis, Vol. 15, No. 2, 185,
March 2000
© 2000 UK Environmental Mutagen Society/Oxford University Press
Book Review |
DNA Recombination and Repair
No short book can address all the cellular processes of DNA repair and recombination. This publication highlights a selection of some of the issues currently at the frontiers of our understanding of these processes and consists of 8 chapters, each of which describes one of the manifold aspects in the preservation of genomic material. The Editors have assembled an impressive list of contributors who detail different facets of cellular response to DNA damage. Chapters are organized to contain an introduction to the issue addressed, strategy development, theory and suggestions for future study, and up-to-date references. There is, also, a useful index.
The book starts with an exploration of DNA-folding anomalies in Escherichia coli, inhibition of DNA replication and initiation of homologous recombination by SbcCD protein. This is followed by a development of the relationships between double-strand break repair and V(D)J recombination thus considering how recognition and cleavage of signal sequences impact upon double-strand break repair. Following chapters consider strategies for dealing with DNA lesions or mismatches. This includes the ability of E.coli and yeast cells to enact translesion replication (`usually a strategy of last resort'). Also, the dramatic role of mismatch repair in human cancers is discussed in detail with an important emphasis on the integrated response to DNA damage. The book then goes on to discuss the elucidation of the enzymology of excision repair including human nucleotide excision repair, followed by an overview of transcription-coupled repair and global genome repair. Alongside this is an exploration of how study of the rare cancer-prone disorder ataxia-telangiectasia has revealed the complexity of the responses of human cells to DNA damage. Finally, the editors themselves discuss the integration of DNA repair into other cellular pathways particularly in relation to the tumour suppressor gene product p53, and touch upon the induction, processing, and repair of DNA damage in particular in relation to the spectrum of unusual forms of DNA damage induced by anticancer drugs. I find this textbook to be well presented and clear in its objectives.
The editors of the book include chapters which discuss the identification of repair genes and characterization of their biochemical activities in organisms of single or multicellular origin which demonstrates the increasingly-apparent observation that lesion-handling strategies lie at the heart of the cell's integrated response to a variety of stresses. I agree wholeheartedly with this approach and recommend this book to the readers of Mutagenesis who may wish to possess a cutting-edge treatise.
Notes
Paul J. Smith and Christopher J. Jones (eds)
Oxford University Press (1999)
236 Pages Price £65.00 (Hbk), £31.95 (Pbk)
ISBN 0-19-963707-5 (Hbk), ISBN 0-19-963706-7 (Pbk)
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