ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on mechanisms of repair of adducts and how the particular features of furocoumarins may be used to further the understanding of processing of lesions by cells. The details of the enzymatic mechanisms can vary according to the organism or cell type, the lesion being repaired, and possibly the function or activity of the damaged DNA sequence. Repair of DNA can be monitored by a number of different techniques, ranging from direct determination of frequencies of chemically defined adducts to examination of gross changes in chromatin by microscopic observation. Repair in this single-celled eukaryotic organism has been studied for some time using genetic techniques. Genetic evidence indicates a complexity in repair pathways far exceeding that understood at the biochemical level. Recent developments in the ability to do biochemistry and genetic engineering in yeast make it likely that it will in time rival E. coli as an organism from which models for repair in higher eukaryotes are built.
