DNA INVERTED REPEATS AND HUMAN DISEASE

John J. Bissler

The Children's Hospital Research Foundation, Cincinnati, Ohio

8. PERSPECTIVES

Innate and environmentally mediated mutagenesis challenges the integrity of the human genome. On the grand scale, such mutation mechanisms facilitate the evolutionary process. This review focused on mutagenesis caused by imperfect inverted repeats. Understanding the basic biology of DNA replication and the challenges posed by alternative DNA structures can begin to lead to predictions and rules explaining such mutagenic mechanisms. This may lead to better strategies for mutation screening as well as for more stable DNA constructs for investigation and therapeutic applications.