Proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) was originally characterised as a DNA sliding clamp for replicative DNA polymerases and as an essential component of the eukaryotic chromosomal DNA replisome. Subsequent studies,however, have revealed its striking ability to interact with multiple partners, which are involved in several metabolic pathways, including Okazaki fragment processing, DNA repair, translesion DNA synthesis, DNA methylation,chromatin remodeling and cell cycle regulation. PCNA in mammalian cells thus appears to play a key role in controlling several reactions through the coordination and organisation of different partners. Two major questions have emerged: how do these proteins access PCNA in a coordinated manner, and how does PCNA temporally and spatially organise their functions? Structural and biochemical studies are starting to provide a first glimpse of how both tasks can be achieved.

Any living cell is faced with the fundamental task of keeping the genome intact in order to develop in an organized manner, to function in a complex environment, to divide at the right time, and to die when it is appropriate. To achieve this goal, an efficient machinery is required to maintain the genetic information encoded in DNA during cell division, DNA repair, DNA recombination, and the bypassing of damage in DNA. DNA polymerases (pols) alpha, beta, gamma, delta, and epsilon are the key enzymes required to maintain the integrity of the genome under all these circumstances. In the last few years the number of known pols, including terminal transferase and telomerase, has increased to at least 19. A particular pol might have more than one functional task in a cell and a particular DNA synthetic event may require more than one pol, which suggests that nature has provided various safety mechanisms. This multi-functional feature is especially valid for the variety of novel pols identified in the last three years. These are the lesion-replicating enzymes pol zeta, pol eta, pol iota, pol kappa, and Rev1, and a group of pols called pol theta;, pol lambda, pol micro, pol sigma, and pol phi that fulfill a variety of other tasks.

Nucleotide excision repair is the principal way by which human cells remove UV damage from DNA. Human cell extracts were fractionated to locate active components, including xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) and ERCC factors. The incision reaction was then reconstituted with the purified proteins RPA, XPA, TFIIH (containing XPB and XPD), XPC, UV-DDB, XPG, partially purified ERCC1/XPF complex, and a factor designated IF7. UV-DDB (related to XPE protein) stimulated repair but was not essential. ERCC1- and XPF-correcting activity copurified with an ERCC1-binding polypeptide of 110 kDa that was absent in XP-F cell extract. Complete repair synthesis was achieved by combining these factors with DNA polymerase epsilon, RFC, PCNA, and DNA ligase I. The reconstituted core reaction requires about 30 polypeptides.

Base excision repair (BER) is a frontline repair system that is responsible for maintaining genome integrity and thus preventing premature aging, cancer and many other human diseases by repairing thousands of DNA lesions and strand breaks continuously caused by endogenous and exogenous mutagens. This fundamental and essential function of BER not only necessitates tight control of the continuous availability of basic components for fast and accurate repair, but also requires temporal and spatial coordination of BER and cell cycle progression to prevent replication of damaged DNA. The major goal of this review is to critically examine controversial and newly emerging questions about mammalian BER pathways, mechanisms regulating BER capacity, BER responses to DNA damage and their links to checkpoint control of DNA replication.