Base excision repair in Archaea: Back to the future in DNA repair

• An integrate review of the current literature about BER pathway in Archaea is given.
• Enzymatic activity of archaeal BER is described.
• Archaeal BER proteins are described and compared with Bacteria and Eukarya.
• Comments to the non-canonical roles of archaeal BER enzymes is provided.
• The importance of this topic for future applications is emphasized.

Together with Bacteria and Eukarya, Archaea represents one of the three domain of life. In contrast with the morphological difference existing between Archaea and Eukarya, these two domains are closely related. Phylogenetic analyses confirm this evolutionary relationship showing that most of the proteins involved in DNA transcription and replication are highly conserved. On the contrary, information is scanty about DNA repair pathways and their mechanisms. In the present review the most important proteins involved in base excision repair, namely glycosylases, AP lyases, AP endonucleases, polymerases, sliding clamps, flap endonucleases, and ligases, will be discussed and compared with bacterial and eukaryotic ones. Finally, possible applications and future perspectives derived from studies on Archaea and their repair pathways, will be taken into account.