Apoptosis During
DNA damage or cellular stress PARPs are activated, leading to an increase in the amount of poly(ADP-ribose) and a decrease in the amount of NAD+. For over a decade it was thought that PARP1 was the only poly(ADP-ribose)polymerase in mammalian cells, therefore this enzyme has been the most studied.
Caspases are a family of cysteine
proteases that are known to play an essential role in
programmed cell death. This protease cleaves PARP-1 into two fragments, leaving it completely inactive, to limit poly(ADP-ribose) production. One of its fragments migrates from the nucleus to the cytoplasm and is thought to become a target of autoimmunity. During caspase-independent
apoptosis, also called parthanatos, poly(ADP-ribose) accumulation can occur due to activation of PARPs or inactivation of
poly(ADP-ribose)glycohydrolase, an enzyme that
hydrolyses poly(ADP-ribose) to produce free ADP-ribose. Studies have shown poly(ADP-ribose) drives the translocation of the apoptosis inducing factor protein to the nucleus where it will mediate
DNA fragmentation. It has been suggested that if a failure of caspase activation under stress conditions were to occur, necroptosis would take place. Overactivation of PARPs has led to a
necrotic cell death regulated by the
tumor necrosis factor protein. Though the mechanism is not yet understood, PARP inhibitors have been shown to affect necroptosis.
Gene regulation ADP-ribosylation can affect
gene expression at nearly every level of regulation, including chromatin organization, transcription factor recruitment and binding, and mRNA processing. The organization of
nucleosomes is key to regulation of gene expression: the spacing and organization of nucleosomes changes what regions of DNA are available for
transcription machinery to bind and transcribe DNA.
PARP1, a poly-ADP ribose polymerase, has been shown to affect chromatin structure and promote changes in the organization of nucleosomes through modification of
histones. PARPs have been shown to affect
transcription factor structure and cause recruitment of many transcription factors to form complexes at DNA and elicit transcription. Mono(ADP-ribosyl)transferases are also shown to affect transcription factor binding at promoters. For example, PARP14, a mono (ADP-ribosyl)transferase, has been shown to affect
STAT transcription factor binding. Other (ADP-ribosyl)transferases have been shown to modify proteins that bind
mRNA, which can cause
silencing of that gene transcript.
DNA repair Poly(ADP-ribose)polymerases (PARPs) can function in
DNA repair of single strand breaks as well as double strand breaks. In single-strand break repair (
base excision repair) the PARP can either facilitate removal of an oxidized sugar or strand cleavage.
PARP1 binds the single-strand breaks and pulls any nearby base excision repair intermediates close. These intermediates include
XRCC1 and APLF and they can be recruited directly or through the PBZ domain of the APLF. This leads to the synthesis of poly(ADP-ribose). The PBZ domain is present in many proteins involved in DNA repair and allows for the binding of the PARP and thus ADP-ribosylation which recruits repair factors to interact at the break site.
PARP2 is a secondary responder to DNA damage but serves to provide functional redundancy in DNA repair. There are many mechanisms for the repair of damaged double stranded DNA. PARP1 may function as a
synapsis factor in alternative non-homologous end joining. Additionally, it has been proposed that PARP1 is required to slow replication forks following DNA damage and promotes
homologous recombination at
replication forks that may be dysfunctional. It is possible that PARP1 and
PARP3 work together in repair of double-stranded DNA and it has been shown that PARP3 is critical for double-stranded break resolution. There are two hypotheses by which PARP1 and PARP3 coincide. The first hypothesis states that the two (ADP-ribosyl)transferases serve to function for each other's inactivity. If PARP3 is lost, this results in single-strand breaks, and thus the recruitment of PARP1. A second hypothesis suggests that the two enzyme work together; PARP3 catalyzes mono(ADP-ribosyl)ation and short poly(ADP-ribosyl)ation and serves to activate PARP1.
Poly-ubiquitin chains tag proteins for degradation by the proteasome, which causes hydrolysis of tagged proteins into smaller peptides. Physiologically, PI31 attacks 20S catalytic domain of 26S Proteasome that results in decreased proteasome activity. (ADP-ribosyl)transferase Tankyrase (TNKS) causes ADP-ribosylation of PI31 which in turn increases the proteasome activity. Inhibition of TNKs further shows the reduced 26S Proteasome assembly. Therefore, ADP-ribosylation promotes 26S Proteasome activity in both
Drosophila and human cells.
Enzyme regulation The activity of some
enzymes is regulated by ADP-ribosylation. For instance, the activity of
Rodospirillum rubrum di-nitrogenase-reductase is turned off by ADP-ribosylation of an
arginine residue, and reactivated by the removal of the ADP-ribosyl group. ==Clinical significance==