Abstract
Although DNA is the carrier of genetic information, it has limited chemical stability. Hydrolysis, oxidation and nonenzymatic methylation of DNA occur at significant ratesin vivo, and are counteracted by specific DNA repair processes. The spontaneous decay of DNA is likely to be a major factor in mutagenesis, carcinogenesis and ageing, and also sets limits for the recovery of DNA fragments from fossils.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on SpringerLink
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ahern, T. J. & Klibanov, A. M. Science 228, 1280–1284 (1985).
Kossiakoff, A. A. Science 240, 191–194 (1988).
Lindahl, T. J. biol. Chem. 242, 1970–1973 (1967).
Pace, N. R. Cell 65, 531–533 (1991).
Lindahl, T. & Nyberg, B. Biochemistry 11, 3610–3618 (1972)
Lindahl, T. & Karlström, O. Biochemistry 12, 5151–5154 (1973).
Loeb, L. A. & Preston, B. D. A. Rev. Genet. 20, 201–230 (1986).
Lindahl, T. & Andersson, A. Biochemistry 11, 3618–3623 (1972).
Shapiro, R. in Chromosome Damage and Repair (eds Seeberg, E. & Kleppe, K.) 3–18 (Plenum, New York, 1981).
Doetsch, P. W. & Cunningham, R. P. Mutat. Res. 236, 173–201 (1990).
Dianov, G., Price, A. & Lindahl, T. Molec. cell. Biol. 12, 1605–1612 (1992).
Lindahl, T. & Nyberg, B. Biochemistry 13, 3405–3410 (1974)
Lindahl, T. Prog. Nucleic Acid Res. molec. Biol. 22, 135–192 (1979).
Ehrlich, M., Zhang, X-Y. & Inamdar, N. M. Mutat. Res. 238, 277–286 (1990).
Frederico, L. A., Kunkel, T. A. & Shaw, B. R. Biochemistry 29, 2532–2537 (1990).
Kricker, M. C. & Drake, J. W. J. Bact. 172, 3037–3039 (1990)
Duncan, B. K., & Miller, J. H. Nature 287, 560–561 (1980).
Chen, J.-D. & Lacks, S. A. J. Bact. 173, 283–290 (1991).
Impellizzeri, K. J., Anderson, B. & Burgers, P. M. J. J. Bact. 173, 6807–6810 (1991).
Cooper, D. N. & Youssoufian, H. Hum. Genet. 78, 151–155 (1988).
Rideout, W. M. III, Coetzee, G. A., Olumi, A. F. & Jones, P. A. Science 249, 1288–1290 (1990).
Selker, E. U. A. Rev. Genet 24, 579–613 (1990).
Shen, J.-C., Rideout, W. M. III, & Jones, P. A. Cell 71, 1073–1080 (1992).
Perutz, M. F. J. molec. Biol. 213, 203–206 (1990).
Karran, P. & Lindahl, T. Biochemistry 19, 6005–6011 (1980).
Dianov, G. & Lindahl, T. Nucleic Acids Res. 19, 3829–3833 (1991).
Hill-Perkins, M., Jones, M. D. & Karran, P. Mutat. Res. 162, 153–163 (1986).
Wink, D. A. et al. Science 254, 1001–1003 (1991).
Demple, B. A. Rev. Genet. 25, 315–337 (1991).
Kasai, H. & Nishimura, S. Nucleic Acids Res. 12, 2137–2145 (1984).
Shibutani, S., Takeshita, M. & Grollman, A. Nature 349, 431–434 (1991).
Tchou, J. et al. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 88, 4690–4694 (1991).
Aruoma, O. I., Halliwell, B. & Dizdaroglu, M. J. biol. Chem. 264, 13024–13028 (1989).
Michaels, M. L., Cruz, C., Grollman, A. P. & Miller, J. H. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 89, 7022–7025 (1992)
Maki, H. & Sekiguchi, M. Nature 355, 273–275 (1992).
Fraga, C. G., Shigenaga, M. K., Park, J.-W., Degan, P. & Ames, B. N. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 87, 4533–4537 (1990).
Wallace, S. S. Envir. molec. Mutag. 12, 431–477 (1988).
Breimer, L. H. Molec. Carcinog. 3, 188–197 (1990).
Kuo, C.-F. et al. Science 258, 434–440 (1992).
Wagner, J. R., Hu, C.-C. & Ames, B. N. Proc natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 89, 3380–3384 (1992).
Dirksen, M. L., Blakely, W. F., Holwitt, E. & Dizdaroglu, M. Int. J. Radiat. Biol. 54, 195–204 (1988).
Carmichael, P. L., Shé, M. N. & Phillips, D. H. Carcinogenesis 13, 1127–1135 (1992).
Szatrowski, T. P. & Nathan, C. F. Cancer Res. 51, 794–798 (1991).
Mouret, J. F., Odin, F., Polverelli, M. & Cadet, J. Chem. Res. Toxicol. 3, 102–110 (1990).
Joenje, H. Mutat. Res. 219, 193–208 (1989).
Ljungman, M. & Hanawalt, P. C. Molec. Carcinog. 5, 264–269 (1992).
Richter, C., Park, J.-W. & Ames, B. N. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 85, 6465–6467 (1988).
Wallace, D. C. et al. Science 242, 1427–1430 (1988).
Linnane, A. W., Marzuki, S., Ozawa, T. & Tanaka, M. Lancet i, 642–645 (1989).
Lutz, W. K. Mutat. Res. 238, 287–295 (1990).
Paik, W. K., Lee, H. W. & Kim, S. FEBS Lett. 58, 39–42 (1975).
Rydberg, B. & Lindahl, T. EMBO J. 1, 211–216 (1982).
Barrows, L. R. & Magee, P. N. Carcinogenesis 3, 349–351 (1982).
Park, J.-W. & Ames, B. N. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 85, 7467–7470; 85, 9508 (1988).
Rebeck, G. W. & Samson, L. J. Bact. 173, 2068–2076 (1991).
Vaughan, P., Sedgwick, B., Hall, J., Gannon, J. & Lindahl, T. Carcinogenesis 12, 263–268 (1991).
Kodama, M. & Saito, H. Cancer Lett. 10, 319–324 (1980).
Bucala, R. P., Model, P. & Cerami, A. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 81, 105–109 (1984).
Lee, A. T. & Cerami, A. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 84, 8311–8314 (1987).
Setlow, P. J. Bact. 174, 2737–2741 (1992).
Baross, J. A. & Deming, J. W. Nature 303, 423–426 (1983).
Trent, J. D., Chastain, R. A. & Yayanos, A. A. Nature 307, 737–740 (1984).
Higuchi, R., Bowman, R., Friedberger, M., Ryder, O. A. & Wilson, A. C. Nature 312, 282–284 (1984).
Pääbo, S. Nature 314, 644–645 (1985).
Pääbo, S., Higuchi, R. G. & Wilson, A. C. J. biol. Chem. 264, 9709–9712 (1989).
Hagelberg, E. & Clegg, J. B. Proc. R. Soc. B244, 45–50 (1991).
De Salle, R., Gatesy, J., Wheeler, W. & Grimaldi, D. Science 257, 1933–1936 (1992).
Golenberg, E. M. et al. Nature 344, 656–658 (1990).
Sidow, A., Wilson, A. C. & Pääbo, S. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B333, 429–433 (1991).
Smith, K. C. Mutat. Res. 277, 139–162 (1992).
Schaaper, R. M. & Dunn, R. L. Genetics 129, 317–326 (1991)
Oller, A. R. & Thilly, W. G. J. molec. Biol. 228, 813–826 (1992).
Ramotar, D., Popoff, S. C., Gralla, E. B. & Demple, B. Molec. cell. Biol. 11, 4537–4544 (1991).
Basu, A. K., Loechler, E. L., Leadon, S. A. & Essigmann, J. M. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 86, 7677–7681 (1989).
Klungland, A., Fairbairn, L., Watson, A. J., Margison, G. P. & Seeberg, E. EMBO J. 11, 4439–4444 (1992).
Loeb, L. A. Cancer Res. 49, 5489–5496 (1989).
Snowden, A., Kow, Y. W. & van Houten, B. Biochemistry 29, 7251–7259 (1990).
Randerath, K., Leihr, J. G., Gladek, A. & Randerath, E. Mutat. Res. 219, 121–133 (1989).
Cleaver, J. E. & Kraemer, K. H. in The Metabolic Basis of Inherited Disease 6th edn. (eds Scriver, C. R. et al.) 2949–2971 (McGraw-Hill, New York, 1989).
Harley, C. B., Futcher, A. B. & Greider, C. W. Nature 345, 458–460 (1990).
McCarthy, T. V., Karran, P. & Lindahl, T. EMBO J. 3, 545–550 (1984).
Lindahl, T. Nature 259, 64–66 (1976).
Saporito, S. M., Gedenk, M. & Cunningham, R. P. J. Bact. 171, 2542–2546 (1989).
Satoh, M. S., Jones, C. J., Wood, R. D. & Lindahl, T. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. (in the press).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Lindahl, T. Instability and decay of the primary structure of DNA. Nature 362, 709–715 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1038/362709a0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/362709a0
This article is cited by
-
Wide-spread dispersal in a deep-sea brooding polychaete: the role of natural history collections in assessing the distribution in quill worms (Onuphidae, Annelida)
Frontiers in Zoology (2024)
-
Identifying plant fibres in cultural heritage with optical and electron microscopy: how to present results and avoid pitfalls
Heritage Science (2024)
-
The enzymatic properties of Arabidopsis thaliana DNA polymerase λ suggest a role in base excision repair
Plant Molecular Biology (2024)
-
A revisited history of cacao domestication in pre-Columbian times revealed by archaeogenomic approaches
Scientific Reports (2024)
-
Ancient human DNA recovered from a Palaeolithic pendant
Nature (2023)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.