Interesting red flag Max...
Haven't dug into this too deeply yet, but this blurb on Wikipedia (for what it's worth) seems to indicate though non-homologous repair can result in errors, the alternative method may be more dangerous still.
http://en.wikipedia....ous_end_joining
"NHEJ is evolutionarily conserved throughout all kingdoms of life and is the predominant double-strand break repair pathway in mammalian cells"
"When the NHEJ pathway is inactivated, double-strand breaks can be repaired by a more error-prone pathway called microhomology-mediated end joining (MMEJ)"
This page ( http://en.wikipedia....s_recombination ) seems to state homologous repair only occurs during DNA replication/mitosis and NHEJ is the predominant form of repair throughout the bulk of the life of the cell? (scroll to: Timing within the mitotic cell cycle)
"Homologous recombination repairs DNA before the cell enters mitosis (M phase). It occurs during and shortly after DNA replication"
" NHEJ is predominant in the G1 phase of the cell cycle, when the cell is growing but not yet ready to divide. It occurs less frequently after the G1phase, but maintains at least some activity throughout the cell cycle. The mechanisms that regulate homologous recombination and NHEJ throughout the cell cycle vary widely between species"
This seems to indicate homologous repair (only?) occurs when errors hapen during the DNA replication phase of mitosis, and DNA damage after mitosis (normal wear and tear) is always repaired via NHEJ or the more error prone MMEJ?
I'd be interested in any good info you might have on this.
Thanks for your input.
Edited by synesthesia, 05 September 2014 - 12:32 AM.