Toward a Detailed Understanding of Base Excision Repair Enzymes:  Transition State and Mechanistic Analyses of N-Glycoside Hydrolysis and N-Glycoside Transfer

Berti and McCann discuss the chemistry performed by base excision (BER) enzymes, enzymes that remove nucleobases from DNA in the first step of the repair of many types of DNA damage. Monofunctional BER enzymes are DNA glocsylases that hydrolyze N-glycosidic bonds to create a common product from disparate types of DNA damage, namely an abasic site.