Base excision repair (BER) is the major pathway for processing of simple lesions in DNA, including single-strand breaks, base damage, and base loss. The scaffold protein XRCC1, DNA polymerase beta, and DNA ligase IIIalpha play pivotal roles in BER. Although all these enzymes are essential for development, their cellular levels must be tightly regulated because increased amounts of BER enzymes lead to elevated mutagenesis and genetic instability and are frequently found in cancer cells. Here we report that BER enzyme levels are linked to and controlled by the level of DNA lesions. We demonstrate that stability of BER enzymes increases after formation of a repair complex on damaged DNA and that proteins not involved in a repair complex are ubiquitylated by the E3 ubiquitin ligase CHIP and subsequently rapidly degraded. These data identify a molecular mechanism controlling cellular levels of BER enzymes and correspondingly the efficiency and capacity of BER.

SummaryThe deubiquitylation enzyme USP7/HAUSP plays a major role in regulating genome stability and cancer prevention by controlling the key proteins involved in the DNA damage response. Despite this important role in controlling other proteins, USP7 itself has not been recognized as a target for regulation. Here, we report that USP7 regulation plays a central role in DNA damage signal transmission. We find that stabilization of Mdm2, and correspondingly p53 downregulation in unstressed cells, is accomplished by a specific isoform of USP7 (USP7S), which is phosphorylated at serine 18 by the protein kinase CK2. Phosphorylation stabilizes USP7S and thus contributes to Mdm2 stabilization and downregulation of p53. After ionizing radiation, dephosphorylation of USP7S by the ATM-dependent protein phosphatase PPM1G leads to USP7S downregulation, followed by Mdm2 downregulation and accumulation of p53. Our findings provide a quantitative transmission mechanism of the DNA damage signal to coordinate a p53-dependent DNA damage response.

Base excision repair (BER) is the major cellular pathway involved in removal of endogenous/spontaneous DNA lesions. Here, we study the mechanism that controls the steady-state levels of BER enzymes in human cells. By fractionating human cell extract, we purified the E3 ubiquitin ligase Mule (ARF-BP1/HectH9) as an enzyme that can ubiquitylate DNA polymerase b (Pol b), the major BER DNA polymerase. We identified lysines 41, 61 and 81 as the major sites of modification and show that replacement of these lysines to arginines leads to increased protein stability. We further show that the cellular levels of Pol b and its ubiquitylated derivative are modulated by Mule and ARF and siRNA knockdown of Mule leads to accumulation of Pol b and increased DNA repair. Our findings provide a novel mechanism regulating steady-state levels of BER proteins.

DNA strand breaks containing 3'-phosphoglycolate (3'-PG) ends are the major lesions induced by ionizing radiation. The repair of this lesion is not completely understood and several activities are thought to be involved in processing of 3'-PG ends. In this study we examined activities in human whole cell extracts (WCE) responsible for removal of 3'-PG. Using a radiolabelled oligonucleotide containing a single nucleotide gap with internal 5'-phosphate and 3'-PG ends, we demonstrate that the major 3'-PG activity in human WCE is Mg2+ dependent and that this activity co-purifies with AP endonuclease 1 (APE1) over phosphocellulose and gel filtration chromatography. Furthermore, immunodepletion of APE1 from active gel filtration fractions using APE1 specific antibodies reveals that the major activity against 3'-PG in human WCE is APE1.

X-ray repair cross-complementing protein-1 (XRCC1)-deficient cells are sensitive to DNA damaging agents and have delayed processing of DNA base lesions. In support of its role in base excision repair, it was found that XRCC1 forms a tight complex with DNA ligase IIIalpha and also interacts with DNA polymerase beta (Pol beta) and other base excision repair (BER) proteins. We have isolated wild-type XRCC1-DNA ligase IIIalpha heterodimer and mutated XRCC1-DNA ligase IIIalpha complex that does not interact with Pol beta and tested their activities in BER reconstituted with human purified proteins. We find that a point mutation in the XRCC1 protein which disrupts functional interaction with Pol beta, affected the ligation efficiency of the mutant XRCC1-DNA ligase IIIalpha heterodimer in reconstituted BER reactions. We also compared sensitivity to hydrogen peroxide between wild-type CHO-9 cells, XRCC1-deficient EM-C11 cells and EM-C11 cells transfected with empty plasmid vector or with plasmid vector carrying wild-type or mutant XRCC1 gene and find that the plasmid encoding XRCC1 protein, that does not interact with Pol beta has reduced ability to rescue the hydrogen peroxide sensitivity of XRCC1- deficient cells. These data suggest an important role for the XRCC1-Pol beta interaction for coordinating the efficiency of the BER process.

Simple base damages are repaired through a shortpatch base excision pathway where a single damaged nucleotide is removed and replaced. DNA polymerase b (Pol b) is responsible for the repair synthesis in this pathway and also removes a 5¢-sugar phosphate residue by catalyzing a b-elimination reaction. However, some DNA lesions that render deoxyribose resistant to b-elimination are removed through a longpatch repair pathway that involves strand displacement synthesis and removal of the generated¯ap by speci®c endonuclease. Three human DNA polymerases (Pol b, Pol d and Pol e) have been proposed to play a role in this pathway, however the identity of the polymerase involved and the polymerase selection mechanism are not clear. In repair reactions catalyzed by cell extracts we have used a substrate containing a reduced apurinic/apyrimidinic (AP) site resistant to b-elimination and inhibitors that selectively affect different DNA polymerases. Using this approach we ®nd that in human cell extracts Pol b is the major DNA polymerase incorporating the ®rst nucleotide during repair of reduced AP sites, thus initiating long-patch base excision repair synthesis.

To understand the mechanism involved in the coordination of the sequential repair reactions that lead to long-patch BER, we have investigated interactions between proteins involved in this pathway. We find that human AP endonuclease 1 (APE1) physically interacts with flap endonuclease 1 (FEN1) and with proliferating cell nuclear antigen. An oligonucleotide substrate containing a reduced abasic site, which was pre-incised with APE1, was employed to reconstitute the excision step of long-patch BER with purified human DNA polymerase beta and FEN1. We demonstrate that addition of APE1 to the excision reaction mixture slightly (1.5-2-fold) stimulates the removal of the displaced flap by FEN1. These results suggest the possibility that long-patch BER is coordinated and directed by protein-protein interactions.

DNA base excision repair (BER) is an essential cellular process required for genome stability, and misregulation of BER is linked to premature aging, increased rate of mutagenesis, and cancer. We have now identified the cytoplasmic ubiquitin-specific protease USP47 as the major enzyme involved in deubiquitylation of the key BER DNA polymerase (Pol β) and demonstrate that USP47 is required for stability of newly synthesized cytoplasmic Pol β that is used as a source for nuclear Pol β involved in DNA repair. We further show that knockdown of USP47 causes an increased level of ubiquitylated Pol β, decreased levels of Pol β, and a subsequent deficiency in BER, leading to accumulation of DNA strand breaks and decreased cell viability in response to DNA damage. Taken together, these data demonstrate an important role for USP47 in regulating DNA repair and maintaining genome integrity.