Invitrogen™ Human MTH1 (aa 31-150) Control Fragment Recombinant Protein

Oxygen radicals damage chromosomal DNA causing cell death and inducing mutations. Among the various classes of DNA damage caused by oxygen radicals, an oxidized form of guanine base (8-oxoguanine) appears to be important as it can pair with cytosine and adenine and G:C to T:A transversion mutation occurs. A significant amount of 8-OxoG is formed in the chromosomal DNA of mammalian cells, with most damaged nucleotides excised from the DNA and excreted in the urine. Along with 8-oxoG being present in oxidatively damaged DNA, 8-oxo-deoxyguanosine (8-oxo-dGTP) is formed in the nucleotide pool during normal cellular metabolism and following oxidative stress. The 8-oxo-dGTP nucleotide can be incorporated in DNA during polymerization and can result in a mispairing unless repaired. MTH converts 8-oxo-dGTP in the nucleotide pool to the monophosphate and prevents the misincorporation of 8-oxo-dGTP into DNA (Figure courtesy of Dr. Mark Kelley). MTH also recognizes 8-oxo-rGTP, which could incorporate into RNA during gene transcription leading to missense or nonsense protein production.