The Relation Between Repair of Radiation Damage and Mutation Induction*

This essay, written in honor of Alexander Hollaender's seventieth birthday, reviews the development of the concept of repair of premutational damage at both the biological and molecular levels. It stresses the important hut not exclusive role that repair processes play in determining the mutation yield, with emphasis on mutations induced by ultraviolet radiation. It points out that under special circumstances repair may be sufficiently efficient to almost completely eliminate premutational damage.