Nei Endonuclease VIII Like Protein 1 (NEIL1)

NEIL1 belongs to a class of DNA glycosylases homologous to the bacterial Fpg/Nei family. These glycosylases initiate the first step in base excision repair by cleaving bases damaged by reactive oxygen species and introducing a DNA strand break via the associated lyase reaction.

Bacterial Fpg/Nei proteins contain 2 structural domains: an N-terminal 2-layered beta sandwich and a C-terminal 4-helix bundle, which includes a helix-2-turns-helix (H2TH) motif and a zinc finger. The deduced 390-amino acid human NEIL1 protein has conserved residues in 6 highly conserved regions that span both structural domains of the bacterial Fpg/Nei proteins, but it lacks the characteristic zinc finger motif.