COMPUTATIONAL SCREENING TO IDENTIFY GENES INVOLVED IN DNA REPAIR IN ARABIDOPSIS THALIANA

The repair of damaged DNA is an essential function for living organisms. While great strides have been made in understanding this process in animal and yeast models, our knowledge in plant DNA repair is not as developed. Plants face many sources of DNA damage which they cannot so easily avoid: UV radiation from sunlight, reactive oxygen species produced endogenously by their mitochondria and chloroplasts, reactive oxygen species accumulated while under conditions of cold, heat, or salt stress. Understanding plant DNA repair is particularly relevant as the accumulation of DNA damage can negatively impact the growth and yield of agronomically important species. In this study, a broad classification of genes related to DNA repair in the model dicot Arabidopsis thaliana was conducted using gene ontology and gene enrichment analysis. The results of this broad classification serve to elucidate pathways for further study in plant DNA damage response and repair.