Topic summary
Polyamines
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Polyamine.
Homology-directed DNA repair
Polyamines promote homologous recombination (HR)-mediated double-strand break (DSB) repair. Polyamines enhance the DNA strand exchange activity of RAD51recombinase. Depletion of polyamines sensitizes cells to genotoxic substances such as ionizing radiation and ultraviolet radiation. The effect of polyamines on RAD51 arises from their ability to enhance the capture of homologous duplex DNA and promote RAD-51-mediated homologous DNA pairing and exchange activity. Polyamines appear to have an evolutionarily conserved role in regulating recombinase activity.