Prevention is Better than a Cure

A Model for Basic Eukaryotic Functions points to an often overlooked aspect of DNA repair. There are the familiar DNA repair pathways by which damaged regions of DNA are repaired. But some damage, that would otherwise occur, is prevented by checkpoint or quality control strategies. Such a strategy is found in RNA polymerase which, when encountering incorrect ribonucleotides, is able to remove them. Errors, which would otherwise be evident in synthesized proteins, are avoided through prevention. Preventive measures like this lessen evidence of errors by eliminating them at a stage preceeding gene expression.