Research progress of uracil DNA glycosylase from hyperthermophilic archaea

Abstract:

High temperatures accelerate a rate at which deamination of a base forms a damaged base, and further replication of the deaminated base results in a mutation. Therefore, genomic stability of hyperthermophilic archaea is facing a challenge of high temperature environments in which they survive. Deamination of cytosine to form uracil is a common deaminated type, and the replication of uracil in DNA causes a mutation in GC→AT. Uracil DNA glycosylase (UDG) is a key enzyme in the repair of uracil in DNA. Based on their substrate specificity, UDGs are divided into six families and are widely distributed in bacteria, archaea, eukaryotes, and some viruses. Genomic sequences show that hyperthermophilic archaea encode at least one UDG. Currently, UDGs have been extensively studied for bacteria and eukaryotes, but research on the hyperthermophilic archaea UDGs is relatively rare and is still in its infancy. In this paper, research progress of hyperthermophilic archaea UDGs was reviewed, and their future research was proposed.