When cells suffer DNA damage, they send out an SOS signal. When the repair crew arrives, the emergency signal is cancelled as it is no longer needed. This two-stage process is an important one in many different diseases, but the underlying mechanisms are not well understood. ADP-ribosylation is one of the DNA damage response mechanisms used by cells to send out an SOS signal; and the ARH family of enzymes is involved in canceling the signal. In work recently published in Cell Chemical Biology, researchers from the University of Oxford’s DNA Damage Response Lab investigated the structure of two ADP-(ribosyl)hydrolases (ARHs). Their results provide important insights into the differences between these two proteins and offer useful tools for targeted drug design.
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Source: Phys.org