Catalysis of the cleavage of the N-C1' glycosidic bond between the damaged DNA base and the deoxyribose sugar, releasing a free base and leaving an apyrimidinic (AP) site. Enzymes with this activity recognize and remove uracil bases in DNA that result from the deamination of cytosine or the misincorporation of dUTP opposite an adenine.
Synonyms:
exact_synonym:
uracil-DNA glycosylase activity
xref:
EC:3.2.2.27; Reactome:R-HSA-9817512 "UNG (UNG2) and base excision repair remove uridine and 5-methylcytidine from chromatin containing histone H3.3"; reactome:R-HSA-110215 "Cleavage of uracil by UNG glycosylase"; reactome:R-HSA-110217 "Cleavage of 5-hydroxyluracil by UNG glycosylase"