Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Hyderabad researchers have unravelled the working of a protein that repairs damaged DNA. Nature has evolved techniques to not only protect DNA, but also to repair damaged DNA so that catastrophic damage can be averted. In humans, one such repair mechanism involves activation of a special class of proteins called ‘DNA repair proteins.The published paper has been co-authored by Anindya Roy, Arun Goyal and research scholars, Ms. Monisha Mohan, Ms. Deepa Akula and Mr. Arun Dhillon.

The research team is headed by Anindya Roy, Associate Professor, Department of Biotechnology, IIT Hyderabad. The research was funded by Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), Department of Science and Technology, Government of India.The results of the study, conducted in collaboration with Arun Goyal, Professor, Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering, IIT Guwahati, has been published recently in the reputed peer-reviewed journal Nucleic Acid Research.

The doctoral student in his laboratory Monisha Mohan discovered the mechanism by which these DNA repair proteins assemble when DNA is under threat. They studied the action of one specific protein called alkB homolog 3, or ALKBH3.