Scripps research team unravels new cellular repair mechanism

A Scripps Research team has unraveled a new biochemical pathway that triggers a critical repair response to correct errors in the DNA replication process that could otherwise lead to harmful or fatal mutations in cells. Though the work focused on yeast cells, the team expects to find an analogous system in human cells that could be exploited as a target for potential therapies for cancers, which are often caused by such repair mechanisms going off course. The research was published today in an advanced, online issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.