thymine dimer; thymine cyclobutane dimer

Introduction

UV light forms different types of DNA damage. The most common lesions are cyclobutane dimers formed from photocyclization of adjacent pyrimidines. Thymine cyclobutane dimers are probably the best studied of the photoproducts. 6-4 photoproducts are the 2nd most common UV photoproduct. Both cyclobutane dimers & 6-4 photoproducts are thought to be toxic & mutagenic lesions. These photoproducts are removed from DNA by nucleotide excision repair.

More general terms

• cyclobutane pyrimidine dimer

Additional terms

• nucleotide excision repair

Database

• PubChem: http://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/summary/summary.cgi?cid=581481