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Updated: Jun 22, 2025

Laser Microirradiation to Study In Vivo Cellular Responses to Simple and Complex DNA Damage
Published on: January 31, 2018
Polo-Like Kinase 1 and DNA Damage Response
Wei Li1,2, Yongjian Hao2
1Laboratory of Nuclear and Radiation Damage, Characteristic Medical Center, PLA Rocket Force, Beijing, China.
Abstract:
Polo-like kinase 1 (Plk1), an evolutionarily conserved serine/threonine protein kinase, is a key regulator involved in the mitotic process of the cell cycle. Mounting evidence suggests that Plk1 is also involved in a variety of nonmitotic events, including the DNA damage response, DNA replication, cytokinesis, embryonic development, apoptosis, and immune regulation. The DNA damage response (DDR) includes activation of the DNA checkpoint, DNA damage recovery, DNA repair, and apoptosis. Plk1 is not only an important target of the G2/M DNA damage checkpoint but also negatively regulates the G2/M checkpoint commander Ataxia telangiectasia-mutated (ATM), promotes G2/M phase checkpoint recovery, and regulates homologous recombination repair by interacting with Rad51 and BRCA1, the key factors of homologous recombination repair. This article briefly reviews the function of Plk1 in response to DNA damage.
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