ERCC

About ERCC:

ERCC is also known as DNA excision repair protein ERCC-1 and is found in humans. The ERCC4, with this protein, forms the ERCC1-XPF enzyme complex, which is responsible for DNA repair and recombination. ERCC1-XPF nuclease is an indispensable activity in the pathway of nucleotide excision repair (NER) of DNA. It also functions in pathways to restore "crosslink" damage and repair double-strand breaks in DNA.

ERCC Function
A constituent of a structure-specific DNA mend endonuclease that is non-catalytic is accountable for the 5' slit during DNA restoration. With the SLX4, the ERCC1-XPF enzyme complex is the trigger for repairing interstrand crosslinks (ICL). It also acts in the anaphase, bridge-generating DNA arrangements consisting of partly processed DNA lesions during the S or G2 phases. This may cause cytokinesis failure. ERCC is also needed for homology-directed repair (HDR) of double-strand DNA breaks with SLX4.

ERCC Structure
The ERCC1–XPF complex is an example of a structure-specific endonuclease. Rather than cutting DNA that is solely single-stranded or double-stranded, ERCC1-XPF cleaves the DNA phosphodiester backbone precisely at the junctions between double-stranded and single-stranded DNA. It does this by introducing a cut in double-stranded DNA. This cut is on the 5′ side of such a junction by a distance of approximately two nucleotides.

ERCC Interaction
The interactions of XPF and the hydrophobic helix–hairpin–helix patterns in the C-terminal areas of ERCC1 stimulate the bonding of the two proteins. Without bonding, there can be no catalytic action. ERCC1 is invaluable to the complex's action, although on its own, ERCC1 is catalytically inactive, and the catalytic domain is found solely in XPF.