DNA Replication Stress Tolerance Mechanisms: From Nucleoside Analog Repair to Therapeutic Strategies
A special issue of Biomolecules (ISSN 2218-273X). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Genetics".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 July 2026 | Viewed by 6
Special Issue Editors
Interests: nucleoside analog; DNA repair; replication; recombination; gene expression; epigenetics; gene expression and chromatin biology; gene regulation; DNA damage
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
We are pleased to invite you to publish your work in the Special Issue entitled “DNA Replication Stress Tolerance Mechanisms: From Nucleoside Analog Repair to Therapeutic Strategies”.
Genomic DNA is continuously challenged by endogenous and exogenous sources of damage, and replication reactions are halted at damaged templates. Prolonged replication arrest results in replication fork collapse and ultimately leads to cell death. To avoid replication arrest upon damaged template, cells evolved several mechanisms named DNA damage tolerance (DDT) mechanisms, such as translesion DNA synthesis (TLS), homologous recombination (HR) mediated template switch, repriming of replication, and fork regression via fork reversal. Nucleoside analogs are chemical compounds structurally similar to the nucleosides (dA, dC, dG, and dT) that constitute DNA molecules. These compounds have been widely used in the treatment of cancer and viral infections due to their inhibitory effect on replication. However, the precise effects of each nucleoside on replication and DDT mechanisms involved in the individual nucleoside analog have not been well elucidated. Moreover, the cellular effects of individual nucleoside analogs on cancer cells, which possess genome instability with compromised DNA damage response systems, including DDT, DNA repair, and DNA damage checkpoint, have remained elusive.
This Special Issue aims to introduce to the scientific community the role of DNA damage response systems, including DDT, DNA repair, and DNA damage checkpoint in cellular tolerance to nucleoside analogs and to address possible directions for developing new therapeutic strategies using nucleoside analogs by targeting weakened DNA damage response systems in cancers.
We are seeking original articles as well as reviews on the cellular effects of nucleoside analogs and therapeutic strategies targeting the DNA damage response systems. Articles reporting research on the general mechanisms responsible for replication stress tolerance and phenotypic analyses of mutant cell lines associated with DNA replication modulation are also welcome.
I am looking forward to receiving your contributions
Prof. Dr. Kouji Hirota
Dr. Ryotaro Kawasumi
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- nucleoside analogs
- DNA replication
- DNA damage tolerance
- DNA repair
- DNA damage checkpoint
- targeted cancer therapy
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