Deoxyinosine repair in nuclear extracts of human cells

Background Deamination of adenine can occur spontaneously under physiological conditions generating the highly mutagenic lesion, hypoxanthine. This process is enhanced by ROS from exposure of DNA to ionizing radiation, UV light, nitrous acid, or heat. Hypoxanthine in DNA can pair with cytosine which results in A:T to G:C transition mutations after DNA replication. In Escherichia coli, deoxyinosine (hypoxanthine deoxyribonucleotide, dI) is removed through an alternative excision repair pathway initiated by endonuclease V. However, the correction of dI in mammalian cells appears more complex and was not fully understood.