Mitochondrial function plays an important role in multiple human diseases and mutations in
the mitochondrial genome have been detected in nearly every type of cancer investigated to
date. However, the mechanism underlying the interrelation is unknown. We used human cell
lines depleted of mitochondrial DNA as models and analyzed the outcome of mitochondrial
dysfunction on major cellular repair activities. We show that the deoxyribonucleoside
triphosphate (dNTP) pools are affected, most prominently we detect a 3-fold reduction of the …