Project 20 - Christof Niehrs

Poly-ADP-ribosylation (PARylation) is regarded as a widespread protein-specific modification closely associated with the DNA damage response. In contrast, we show that also DNA of mammalian cells is physiologically PARylated. DNA PARylation is a reversible enzymatic process and occurs, in specific, on adenine residues within single stranded DNA. We plan to reveal where in the genome adenine PARylation happens, and intend to study the physiological role of DNA PARylation by PARP enzymes using mouse embryonic stem cells.