Characteristics of excision repair of pyrimidine dimers in eukaryotic cells as assayed with anti-dimer sera.

An antiserum that recognizes the three types of pyrimidine dimers induced by UV-light in DNA was used to monitor their removal from eukaryotic cell nuclei. Cells able to excise dimers display a similar removal pattern: a fast process completed within a few hours leaving many dimers in the DNA.