Researchers shed light on how damaged DNA is repaired

In a breakthrough discovery, researchers have revealed how a damaged DNA is transported within a cell and repaired.

Karim Mekhail, a professor at the University of Toronto, discovered the DNA ambulance, which is a motor protein complex, by using yeast cells. His team also found that the DNA hospital, also known as the nuclear pore complex, repairs damaged DNA inaccurately.

Mekhail said that this process allowed the cells to survive an injury, adding that the cell has a compromised genome, but is stable and could be replicated, which was usually a recipe for disaster.

The implications of the research could extend to a large number of developmental and disease settings, including unraveling secrets of how cancer operates.

The study has been published in Nature Communications.