Sunday, May 22, 2016

Role of XPD in cellular functions: to TFIIH and beyond

Bennett Van Houten, Jochen Kuper, Caroline Kisker, DNA Repair, Available online 16 May 2016, ISSN 1568-7864, doi: 10.1016/j.dnarep.2016.05.019.

One interesting implication of this work is in cells deficient in iron-sulfur cluster biogenesis, such as those from patients with Friedreich ataxia (FA), since several key DNA processing proteins, such as XPD, DDX11, FANCJ and RTEL1 contain FeS centers, these patients displayed an RNA expression pattern similar to cells undergoing a DNA damage respons. FA patients might be expected to have higher levels of DNA damage. It has recently been observed that these patients have altered telomeres because RTEL1 activity is lower.