Identification of potential radiation-responsive biomarkers based on human orthologous genes with possible roles in DNA repair pathways by comparison between Arabidopsis thaliana and homo sapiens.

•A simplified in silico method is proposed to identify novel human DNA repair genes effectively.•16 identified candidate genes were implicated in the HR and NHEJ with experimental evidences.•Most of the gene expression patterns were significantly changed under radiation treatments.•ERCC1 and ESCO2 were identified to be the candidate genes in response to γ-ray exposures.•These findings raise a new insight into DNA repair pathways and potential IR biomarkers.