Redox environment, free radical, and oxidative DNA damage.

Significance: Effective redox homeostasis is critical, and disruption of this process can have important cellular consequences. An array of systems protect the cell from potentially damaging reactive oxygen species (ROS), however if these systems are overwhelmed, for example, in aberrantly functioning cells, ROS can have a number of detrimental consequences, including DNA damage. Oxidative DNA damage can be repaired by a number of DNA repair pathways, such as base excision repair (BER).

Recent Advances: The role of ROS in oxidative DNA damage is well established, however, there is an emerging role for ROS and the redox environment in modulating the efficiency of DNA repair pathways targeting oxidative DNA lesions.

Critical Issues: Oxidative DNA damage and modulation of DNA damage and repair by the redox environment are implicated in a number of diseases. Understanding how the redox environment plays such a critical role in DNA damage and repair will allow us to further understand the far reaching cellular consequence of ROS.

Future Directions: In this review, we discuss the detrimental effects of ROS, oxidative DNA damage repair, and the redox systems that exist to control redox homeostasis. We also describe how DNA pathways can be modulated by the redox environment and how the redox environment and oxidative DNA damage plays a role in disease.