Archaeal DNA Repair

The specific goal of this chapter on archaeal DNA repair is to outline how nature has invented several different strategies, DNA repair pathways, to detect and correct various types of DNA damages. The DNA damage can impact either the single strand or both strands of the DNA duplex. Double-strand breaks may be precisely repaired by homologous recombination, which uses the intact DNA strand as a backup for the correct genetic information (for detailed reviews on archaeal DNA repair). Archaeal DNA polymerases misincorporate ribonucleotides, instead of deoxyribonucleotides, into genomic DNA surprisingly frequently. Many different types of DNA damage either result from errors of DNA replication or halt the replisome. In addition, some archaeal DNA repair proteins such as Fen1 and potentially DNA polymerase PolB are also multitasking between DNA replication and repair.