Description
This protein belongs to the TDG
mug DNA glycosylase family. Thymine-DNA glycosylase (TDG) removes thymine moieties from G
T mismatches by hydrolyzing the carbon-nitrogen bond between the sugar-phosphate backbone of DNA and the mispaired thymine. With lower activity, this enzyme also removes thymine from C
T and T
T mispairings. TDG can also remove uracil and 5-bromouracil from mispairings with guanine. This enzyme plays a central role in cellular defense against genetic mutation caused by the spontaneous deamination of 5-methylcytosine and cytosine. This gene may have a pseudogene in the p arm of chromosome 12