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Any mutational event that disrupts the superhelical structure of DNA carries with it the potential to compromise the genetic stability of a cell. Mismatch repair is a system for recognizing and repairing the erroneous insertion, deletion and misincorporation of bases that can arise during DNA replication and recombination. Damage detection and repair systems are as complex as the replication machinery itself, thus highlighting the importance evolution has attached to DNA fidelity. Examples of mismatched bases include a G/T or A/C pairing. Such damage is repaired by excising the wrongly incorporated base and incorporating it with the correct nucleotide. Usually, this involves more than just the mismatched nucleotide itself, and can lead to the removal of significant tracts of DNA.
