Integrating plant and animal biology for the search of novel DNA damage biomarkers

Publication date: January–March 2018 Source:Mutation Research/Reviews in Mutation Research, Volume 775 Author(s): Zacharenia Nikitaki, Marcela Holá, Mattia Donà, Athanasia Pavlopoulou, Ioannis Michalopoulos, Karel J. Angelis, Alexandros G. Georgakilas, Anca Macovei, Alma Balestrazzi Eukaryotic genome surveillance is dependent on the multiple, highly coordinated network functions of the DNA damage response (DDR). Highlighted conserved features of DDR in plants and animals represent a challenging opportunity to develop novel interdisciplinary investigations aimed at expanding the sets of DNA damage biomarkers currently available for radiation exposure monitoring (REM) in environmental and biomedical applications. In this review, common and divergent features of the most relevant DDR players in animals and plants are described, including the intriguing example of the plant and animal kingdom-specific master regulators SOG1 (suppressor of gamma response) and p53. The potential of chromatin remodelers as novel predictive biomarkers of DNA damage is considered since these highly evolutionarily conserved proteins provide a docking platform for the DNA repair machinery. The constraints of conventional REM biomarkers can be overcome using biomarkers identified with the help of the pool provided by high-throughput techniques. The complexity of radiation-responsive animal and plant transcriptomes and their usefulness as sources of novel REM biomarkers are discussed, focus...
Source: Mutation Research Reviews in Mutation Research - Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Source Type: research