Fig. 3.

The potential roles of the Nudix hydrolases, identified to date, that may contribute to the sanitisation of the 2′-deoxyribonucleotide, and ribonucleotide pools. Non-oxidised nucleotide precursors may be oxidised, and may then phosphorylated, prior to incorporation into DNA or RNA, by DNA and RNA polymerases, respectively. 8-oxodGMP cannot be phosphorylated, and therefore when generated as the result of NUDT1 activity, acts as a block, preventing misincorporation of 8-oxodGTP into DNA. The corresponding pathways for GTP, are less well established. Note: recent evidence suggests that the contribution of NUDT5 and NUDT15, as backups for the primary 8-oxodGTPase NUDT1, is negligible.