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Concept

Mismatch repair

A DNA double helix with mismatched bases is depicted, symbolizing the process of mismatch repair in genome surveillance systems.

A genome surveillance system that scans newly replicated DNA for base-pair mismatches the polymerase missed. Proteins of the MutS and MutL families recognise the distortion, excise a stretch of the new strand, and call in polymerase to refill it. Inherited defects in human mismatch repair cause Lynch syndrome, a hereditary predisposition to colorectal and other cancers.

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