NHEJ
Science & Engineering abbreviation · Genetics
| Stands for | Non-homologous end joining |
|---|---|
| Categories | Science & Engineering |
NHEJ stands for Non-homologous end joining, a genetics abbreviation.
Main pathway human cells use to repair double-strand breaks in DNA by directly ligating the broken ends without a template. It is fast but error-prone, often adding or removing a few bases, which is why it is exploited to knock out genes after CRISPR cutting.
Example: Repair by NHEJ produced frameshift indels in most edited cells.
Usage notes
NHEJ works throughout the cell cycle, whereas template-based repair is limited mainly to dividing cells. The immune system relies on NHEJ to join gene segments during V(D)J recombination, so defects cause severe combined immunodeficiency. A related backup pathway is called microhomology-mediated end joining (MMEJ).
Related abbreviations
More genetics abbreviations
- MAF – Minor allele frequency
- Mb – Megabase
- miRNA – MicroRNA
- mtDNA – Mitochondrial DNA
- ncRNA – Non-coding RNA
- NGS – Next-generation sequencing
- ORF – Open reading frame
- PAM – Protospacer adjacent motif
- PRS – Polygenic risk score
- QTL – Quantitative trait locus
- RFLP – Restriction fragment length polymorphism
- RNA-seq – RNA sequencing