Measuring the Formation and Repair of UV Damage at the DNA Sequence Level by Ligation-Mediated PCR

The formation and repair of DNA damage at specific locations in the genome is modulated by DNA sequence context, by DNA cytosine-5 methylation patterns, by the transcriptional status of the locus and by proteins associated with the DNA. The only method currently available to allow precise sequence mapping of DNA lesions in mammalian cells is the ligation-mediated polymerase chain reaction (LM-PCR) technique. We provide an update on technical details of LM-PCR. LM-PCR can be used, for example, for mapping of ultraviolet (UV) light-induced DNA photoproducts such as cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers.