Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 18, 2026

Laser Microirradiation to Study In Vivo Cellular Responses to Simple and Complex DNA Damage
Published on: January 31, 2018
Towards a structural understanding of PARP1 activation and related signalling ADP-ribosyl-transferases
Markus Hassler1, Andreas G Ladurner
1Department of Physiological Chemistry, LMU BioMedical Center, Faculty of Medicine, Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich, Butenandtstrasse 5B, 81377 Munich, Germany.
Abstract:
ADP-ribosylation is a post-translational modification of proteins that occurs mostly in response to cellular stress and is catalysed by members of the diverse poly-ADP-ribose (PAR) polymerase (PARP/ARTD) family. The founding member of the family, PARP1, is best recognized for its function as a sensor of DNA strand lesions, but ADP-ribosylation has been implicated in transcriptional regulation, chromatin dynamics, telomere maintenance, apoptosis and neuronal signalling. Here we summarize a number of exciting recent breakthroughs in our understanding of the structural and mechanistic aspects of how PARP1 recognizes DNA, how PARPs are regulated, how ADP-ribose modifications are set onto specific targets and how the cellular machinery recognizes this elusive post-translational modification.
Related Concept Videos
PI3K/mTOR/AKT Signaling Pathway
Protein Kinases and Phosphatases
Protein kinases
Many proteins in the cell are regulated by phosphorylation, the addition of a phosphate group. A family of enzymes called kinases...
Amplifying Signals via Enzymatic Cascade
Covalently Linked Protein Regulators
These groups modify specific amino acids in a protein.
Phosphoinositides and PIPs
Different phosphoinositides are synthesized and recruited on the cytosolic face of the plasma membrane. The localization of specific phosphoinositides concentrated in separate membrane...
Interactions Between Signaling Pathways
Convergence and divergence, and cross-talk between signaling pathways
Two distinct signaling pathways can converge on a single functional unit, which may either be a single protein or a complex of proteins. The response is either functionally distinct or synergistic between the two pathways but different from the response...
