Analysis of the excision step in human DNA mismatch repair.

The reaction responsible for replication error correction by mismatch repair proceeds via several steps: mismatch recognition, mismatch-provoked excision, repair DNA synthesis, and ligation. Key steps in this process are the recognition and subsequent exonucleolytic removal of the mispair. A minimal system comprised of human MutS alpha (MSH2 center dot MSH6), MutL alpha (MLH1 center dot PMS2), exonuclease I (EXOI), replication protein A (RPA), proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), and replication factor C (RFC) is sufficient to support mismatch-provoked excision in vitro. This chapter describes methods for analysis of the reconstituted excision reaction.