Molecular mechanisms of mammalian global genome nucleotide excision repair

Nucleotide excision repair (NER) is a particular intriguing DNA repair pathway because of its extraordinarily wide substrate specificity. To date, two distinct subpathways have been discerned: global genome NER (GG-NER), which can detect and remove lesions throughout the genome, and transcription-coupled NER (TC-NER), which ensures faster repair of many lesions when located on the transcribed strand of actively transcribed genes. This review discusses the current knowledge of the molecular mechanisms underlying GG-NER pathway. It is shown how the sequential action of over 30 proteins can perform the repair of an astonishing diversity of DNA lesions.