# Depurination

National Cancer Institute

## Source

National Cancer Institute. *Depurination*. NCI Thesaurus. Code C41574.

Depurination involves cleavage of the N-glycosidic link between a purine base and the remaining deoxyribose portion of the effected nucleotide in DNA, leading to loss of the purine base while leaving the DNA backbone intact. Depurination must be enzymically repaired to ensure genetic stability; transversion mutations result from purine loss.