Question

Cockayne syndrome patients have normal skin cancer rates. This suggests that which DNA repair mechanism is operating normally?

a. base excision repair
b. transcription-coupled pathway of nucleotide excision repair
c. global pathway of nucleotide excision repair
d. mismatch repair
e. double strand breakage repair

Answer 1

Patients with Cockayne syndrome have normal skin cancer rates, implying that the global pathway of nucleotide excision repair is functioning effectively in repairing UV-induced DNA damage like thymine dimers.

Step-by-step explanation:

Cockayne syndrome patients have normal skin cancer rates, which suggests that the global pathway of nucleotide excision repair is operating normally. This mechanism is responsible for repairing UV-induced damage such as thymine dimers formed when UV light causes adjacent thymine bases to bond together. Despite the fact that Cockayne syndrome affects other aspects of DNA repair, the normal skin cancer rates indicate that this repair pathway, which operates throughout the entire genome, is intact and functional in these patients.