Project 4 - Andriy Khobta

The goal of this project is to understand the consequences of DNA lesions within a transcribed gene for the activity of the affected gene. To this end, we will incorporate a range of physiologically relevant DNA adducts at selected positions into a transcription template and investigate the efficiencies and accuracies of transcriptional bypass of these lesions in cells. In addition, we will address the modes of recognition of structurally distinct DNA lesions in transcribed DNA in order to identify the determinants for detection and removal of damaged nucleotides by the two major branches of the human nucleotide excision repair pathway.