Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 16, 2026

Investigation of Protein Recruitment to DNA Lesions Using 405 Nm Laser Micro-irradiation
Published on: March 20, 2018
Role of p21WAF1 in the cellular response to UV
Rati Fotedar1, Mourad Bendjennat, Arun Fotedar
1Institut de Biologie Structurale J.-P. Ebel, Grenoble, France. fotedar@ibs.fr
Abstract:
UV or g irradiation mediated DNA damage activates p53 and induces cell cycle arrest. Induction of cyclin dependent kinase inhibitor p21WAF1 by p53 after DNA damage plays an important role in cell cycle arrest after gamma irradiation. The p53 mediated cell cycle arrest has been postulated to allow cells to repair the DNA damage. Repair of UV damaged DNA occurs primarily by the nucleotide excision pathway (NER). It is known that p21WAF1 binds PCNA and inhibits PCNA function in DNA replication. PCNA is also required for repair by NER but there have been conflicting reports on whether p21WAF1 can inhibit PCNA function in NER. It has therefore been difficult to integrate the UV induced cell cycle arrest by p21 in the context of repair of UV damaged DNA. A recent study reported that p21WAF1 protein is degraded after low but not high doses of UV irradiation, that cell cycle arrest after UV is p21 independent, and that at low dose UV irradiation p21WAF1 degradation is essential for optimal DNA repair. These findings shed new light on the role of p21 in the cellular response to UV and clarify some outstanding issues concerning p21WAF1 function.
Related Concept Videos
Negative Regulator Molecules
Nucleotide Excision Repair
DNA Damage can Stall the Cell Cycle
Mutations
Chromosomal Alterations Are Large-Scale Mutations
While point mutations are changes in a single nucleotide in...
Nucleotide Excision Repair
Cells are regularly exposed to mutagens—factors in the environment that can damage DNA and generate mutations. UV radiation is one of the most common mutagens and is estimated to introduce a significant number of changes in DNA. These include bends or kinks in the structure, which can block DNA replication or transcription. If these errors are not fixed, the damage can cause mutations, which in turn can result in cancer or disease depending on which sequences are...
DNA Damage Can Stall the Cell Cycle

