ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the molecular mechanisms that utilize enzyme and Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)-based nano-features to safeguard the integrity of one of the cells’ most abundant nanomaterials, DNA, as well as nanotechnology approaches that are predicted to be important for disease diagnosis and therapy. Molecular and structural studies of DNA and the associated enzymes that maintain DNA integrity have highlighted the use of nano-features inherent to DNA and associated with response systems for damage identification and activation of DNA repair pathways. New nanotechnology-based damage detection and sequencing approaches, falling under the auspices of personalized medicine, are predicted to further our understanding of the DNA damage response in human diseases and should lead to advances in cancer management. The identification and quantification of DNA damaging agents is an exciting area of research that uses nanotechnology, and both these systems need to be integrated into DNA damage response research, since damage mitigation strategies are proposed components of the DNA damage response.
