Evolution of concepts in DNA repair

Abstract

A short personalized history of the development of the field of DNA excision repair is presented, beginning with the early insights of radiation biologists and extending to the present-day convergence of the fields of DNA repair and transcription. It is becoming increasingly clear that excision repair is not merely an extraordinary scheme to help UV-exposed cells survive but rather one that operates upon a wide range of structural defects in DNA, some of which are due to environmental chemicals and others are a consequence of normal metabolic activities. It is an important challenge to researchers and risk assessors to determine the relative contributions to biological endpoints from endogenous events and the intrinsic instability of DNA as compared to exogenous environmental exposures. This should be one of the goals of the Environmental Mutagen Society as it embarks upon its second quarter-century.