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Updated: Jul 18, 2026

Purification of Ubiquitinated p53 Proteins from Mammalian Cells
Published on: March 21, 2022
Human SHPRH suppresses genomic instability through proliferating cell nuclear antigen polyubiquitination
Akira Motegi1, Raman Sood, Helen Moinova
1Genome Instability Section, Genetics and Molecular Biology Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
Abstract:
Differential modifications of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) determine DNA repair pathways at stalled replication forks. In yeast, PCNA monoubiquitination by the ubiquitin ligase (E3) yRad18 promotes translesion synthesis (TLS), whereas the lysine-63-linked polyubiquitination of PCNA by yRad5 (E3) promotes the error-free mode of bypass. The yRad5-dependent pathway is important to prevent genomic instability during replication, although its exact molecular mechanism is poorly understood. This mechanism has remained totally elusive in mammals because of the lack of apparent RAD5 homologues. We report that a putative tumor suppressor gene, SHPRH, is a human orthologue of yeast RAD5. SHPRH associates with PCNA, RAD18, and the ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme UBC13 (E2) and promotes methyl methanesulfonate (MMS)-induced PCNA polyubiquitination. The reduction of SHPRH by stable short hairpin RNA increases sensitivity to MMS and enhances genomic instability. Therefore, the yRad5/SHPRH-dependent pathway is a conserved and fundamental DNA repair mechanism that protects the genome from genotoxic stress.
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