Running Title: DNA Recombination and Repair in the Archaea DNA Recombination and Repair in the Archaea Erica M. Seitz, Cynthia A. Haseltine, and Stephen C. Kowalczykowski* Sections of Microbiology and of Molecular and Cellular Biology Center for Genetics and Development University of California, Davis Davis, CA 95616-8665 * Corresponding author: Section of Microbiology One Shields Avenue Hutchison Hall University of California, Davis Davis, CA 95616-8665 Phone: (530)752-5938 Fax: (530)752-5939 email:
[email protected] 1 Abstract The ability to repair DNA damage is crucial to all organisms. Much of what we learned about these processes was gained from studies carried out in Bacteria, especially in Escherichia coli, or Eucarya, particularly in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The repair of DNA damage occurs by at least four different pathways: direct reversal of DNA damage, excision of damaged nucleotides (nucleotide excision repair or NER) or bases (base excision repair or BER), excision of misincorporated nucleotides (mismatch repair or MMR), and recombinational repair. Proteins involved in these processes have recently been identified in the third domain of life, the Archaea. Here we present a summary of DNA repair proteins in both the Bacteria and Eucarya, and discuss similarities and differences between these two domains and what is currently known in the Archaea. 2 I. Introduction DNA is subjected daily to considerable environmental and endogenous damage, which challenges both the integrity of the essential information that it contains and its ability to be transferred to future generations. All cells, however, are prepared to handle damage to the genome through an extensive DNA repair system, thus underscoring the importance of this process in cell survival.