Analysis of NusA's roles in DNA repair and damage tolerance pathways in Escherichia coli

Abstract

NusA has long known to be a bona fide transcription factor that functions in both termination and antitermination. However, its role in DNA repair and damage tolerance has not been explored until recently. Cohen et al. proposed for the first time that NusA functions as a coupling factor in transcription-coupled translesion synthesis (TC-TLS) and nucleotide excision repair (TCR) processes. A very recent paper by Nudler's lab further supports Cohen's NusA-dependent TCR model. The objectives of the work described here are to gain a deeper understanding of the precise mechanism NusA uses to facilitate DNA repair and damage tolerance.