G C A T T A C G G C A T genes Review The Dark Side of UV-Induced DNA Lesion Repair Wojciech Strzałka 1, Piotr Zgłobicki 1, Ewa Kowalska 1, Aneta Ba˙zant 1, Dariusz Dziga 2 and Agnieszka Katarzyna Bana´s 1,* 1 Department of Plant Biotechnology, Faculty of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Biotechnology, Jagiellonian University, Gronostajowa 7, 30-387 Krakow, Poland;
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[email protected]; Tel.: +48-12-664-6410 Received: 27 October 2020; Accepted: 29 November 2020; Published: 2 December 2020 Abstract: In their life cycle, plants are exposed to various unfavorable environmental factors including ultraviolet (UV) radiation emitted by the Sun. UV-A and UV-B, which are partially absorbed by the ozone layer, reach the surface of the Earth causing harmful effects among the others on plant genetic material. The energy of UV light is sufficient to induce mutations in DNA. Some examples of DNA damage induced by UV are pyrimidine dimers, oxidized nucleotides as well as single and double-strand breaks. When exposed to light, plants can repair major UV-induced DNA lesions, i.e., pyrimidine dimers using photoreactivation. However, this highly efficient light-dependent DNA repair system is ineffective in dim light or at night. Moreover, it is helpless when it comes to the repair of DNA lesions other than pyrimidine dimers.