MutM is a bacterial DNA glycosylase that removes the mutagenic lesion 8-oxoguanine (oxoG) from duplex DNA. The means of oxoG recognition by MutM (also known as Fpg) is of fundamental interest, in light of the vast excess of normal guanine bases present in genomic DNA. The crystal structure of a recognition-competent but catalytically inactive version of MutM in complex with oxoG-containing DNA reveals the structural basis for recognition. MutM binds the oxoG nucleoside in the syn glycosidic configuration and distinguishes oxoG from guanine by reading out the protonation state of the N7 atom. The segment of MutM principally responsible for oxoG recognition is a flexible loop, suggesting that conformational mobility influences lesion recognition and catalysis. Furthermore, the structure of MutM in complex with DNA containing an alternative substrate, dihydrouracil, demonstrates how MutM is able to recognize lesions other than oxoG.The reactive byproducts of aerobic respiration oxidize DNA to generate a number of deleterious adducts, among which the most widely studied is 8-oxoguanine (oxoG). 1 Because oxoG mispairs with adenine during replication, this oxidative lesion is a source of G⅐C to T⅐A transversion mutations. Nearly all organisms possess enzymes that safeguard against the genotoxic effects of oxoG. The oxoG resistance pathway in bacteria, known as the "GO" system, comprises three components: MutT, MutY, and MutM (1-4). MutT hydrolyzes oxo-dGTP to oxodGMP and inorganic pyrophosphate so as to prevent de novo incorporation of oxoG into the genome during DNA replication. MutY initiates the repair of misreplicated oxoG⅐A pairs in DNA by catalyzing hydrolytic excision of the adenine base. MutM (also known as Fpg) is a bifunctional DNA glycosylase/lyase that catalyzes complete excision of oxoG lesion nucleosides when paired opposite C in DNA via a complex multistep reaction cascade. Most eukaryotes possess a GO system related to that in bacteria, with orthologous versions of MutT and MutY; however, in higher organisms, MutM is replaced by the functionally analogous but structurally unrelated enzyme Ogg1 (5, 6). Orthologs of MutM have been discovered in mammals, but these do not appear to be primarily involved in oxoG repair (7-10).Recent structural studies of MutM-DNA complexes have revealed the overall architecture of the protein-DNA complex. These structures have also provided insights into the general features of lesion presentation to the MutM active site, suggesting that the oxoG nucleoside is swiveled out of the DNA helix during repair, a theme common throughout the structural biology of base excision DNA repair. A segment of the protein near the active site is disordered in the DNA-bound MutM structures lacking an oxoG nucleobase, yet is ordered in the absence of DNA, thus leading to the tantalizing suggestion that induced fit might contribute to lesion base recognition. Understanding the structural determinants of lesion recognition by MutM has been hampered by the fact that none of the available high re...