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In Vivo DNA Damage Signaling is Not Well Understood
In vivo, DNA is complexed with histones and other factors to form chromatin fibers. Regulation of chromatin structure is of paramount importance for DNA metabolism. For example, the histone variant H2AX is phosphorylated by ataxia-telangiectasia mutated (ATM) and other kinases following double-strand breaks (DSB) induction, and is important for DSB damage signal amplification as well as providing a docking site for other factors. Spreading of damage signaling and repair pathway choice appear to be critically influenced by local chromatin structure at damage sites1. A number of chromatin remodeling factors, histone chaperones, and histone modifying enzymes are indeed recruited to damage sites and are important for efficient DNA repair, highlighting the significance of chromatin regulation in the DDR and repair2,3,4. Furthermore, damage site clustering or repositioning was observed in yeast and drosophila5,6,7,8, reminiscent of relocalization of gene loci in the subnuclear compartment associated with gene regulation9,10. Recent studies in mouse and human cells also revealed mobilization of DSB sites, which influences repair fidelity and pathway choice11,12. This raises the possibility that DDR/repair may also be intimately linked to nuclear architecture, higher-order chromatin organization, and chromosome dynamics in the cell nucleus. Thus, it is critical to develop high-resolution methods to study DDR and repair processes in the context of the endogenous nuclear environment in a live cell in order to understand short- and long-term consequences of DNA damage.
Critical Role of PAR Polymerase (PARP) in Gauging the Extent and Type of Damage and Regulating Protein Assembly at the Damage Site
PARP1 is a DNA nick sensor rapidly activated by DNA damage that plays a critical role in DNA repair13. PARP1 was originally thought to function together with X-Ray Repair Cross Complementing 1 (XRCC1) to facilitate base excision repair (BER), but recent studies reveal its role in other DNA repair pathways, including DSB repair14. Activated PARP1 uses nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) as a substrate to ADP-ribosylate multiple target proteins, including itself. This enzyme and other family members have attracted much attention in recent years as PARP inhibitors have emerged as promising therapeutic drugs for cancers. Although PARP inhibitors were initially found to be effective in breast cancer gene (BRCA)-mutated breast cancer cells, there is now a plethora of evidence for their effects in mono- and combination therapies together with DNA damaging agents/irradiation against a broad spectrum of cancers with mutations not limited to BRCA15,16,17,18,19,20.
At the molecular level, PARP activation was shown to play critical roles in organizing the local chromatin structure at damage sites. PAR-dependent recruitment of chromatin modification enzymes facilitates DSB repair and dictates repair pathway choices, suggesting the important scaffolding role of PAR modification at damage sites. 13,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31 We recently demonstrated the exclusion of p53-binding protein 1 (53BP1) from damage sites by PAR 32, providing an alternative explanation for 53BP1-dependent hyperactivation of non-homologous endjoining (NHEJ) by PARP inhibitor and highlighting the significance of PARP in DSB repair pathway choice33,34. PARP1 also directly PARylates and affects the activity of multiple DNA repair factors14.
Using Laser Microirradiation as a Tool to Study DDR/Repair In Vivo
Laser microirradiation to produce sub-micron alterations on individual chromosomes was first described in 196935 and reviewed in detail in 198136. Several decades later, laser microirradiation was shown to induce DNA damage at a defined submicrometer region in the cell nucleus, and was proven to be a valuable technique to study recruitment or modifications of various factors to DNA lesions in vivo13,37,38,39,40,41. This method allows detection of those factors that do not form distinct irradiation-induced foci (IRIF) at damage sites39,42. It is also possible to examine the spatiotemporal dynamics of chromatin structural changes both at damage sites and in the rest of the nucleus. We carefully compared the DDRs induced by different laser systems and input powers to evaluate the relationship between the type of DNA damage and the microirradiation conditions32,43,44,45. The aberrant recruitment patterns of 53BP1 and telomeric repeat binding factor 2 (TRF2) were observed in the previous laser damage studies, which provided the basis for the recurring concern for the "non-physiological" nature of laser-induced damage46,47,48,49. We found that these apparent discrepancies could now be explained by differential PARP signaling which gauges the amount and complexity of induced damage32. We confirmed that: 1) laser-microirradiated cells (even after high input-power irradiation) are arrested in interphase in a damage checkpoint control-dependent manner and remain viable (at least up to 48 h)32,50; and 2) repair factor recruitment/modifications faithfully recapitulate those observed with treatment with conventional DNA damaging agents and DSB induction by endonucleases32,39,42,44,50,51,52. These results strongly support the physiological relevance of studying laser damage-induced cellular responses.