Abstract 1819 Investigating the Mechanism of Polymerase Beta DNA Damage Search and Recognition Using a Single-Molecule Approach

Oxidative stress is a common form of DNA damage constantly occurring throughout the genome. If this damage is not repaired, oxidized damage may result in mutations and a variety of deleterious outcomes. Therefore, cells maintain robust repair pathways, such as base excision repair (BER), to repair oxidative lesions. Within BER, DNA polymerase beta (pol β) is responsible for carrying out three primary functions: rapidly searching through a sea of non-damaged DNA, recognizing single-nucleotide (1-nt) gaps, and inserting the correct nucleotide.