Adenine DNA glycosylase(mutY) is an adenine DNA glycosylase active on DNA substrates including A/G, A/8-oxoG, or A/C mismatches and also has a weak guanine glycosylase activity on G/8- oxoG-containing DNA. mutY is essential for the prevention of mutations resulting from oxidative DNA impairment. Rising levels of mutY in A549 cells exposed to oxygen and infrared radiation leads to improvements in cell survival. mutY is common in neurons where mitochondrial genomes exposed to reactive oxygen species that damage DNA must uphold integrity over the whole mammalian life span.