Recruitment of RNA polymerase II cofactor PC4 to DNA damage sites

The multifunctional nuclear protein positive cofactor 4 (PC4) is involved in various cellular processes including transcription, replication, and chromatin organization. Recently, PC4 has been identified as a suppressor of oxidative mutagenesis in Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. To investigate a potential role of PC4 in mammalian DNA repair, we used a combination of live cell microscopy, microirradiation, and fluorescence recovery after photobleaching analysis. We found a clear accumulation of endogenous PC4 at DNA damage sites introduced by either chemical agents or laser microirradiation. Using fluorescent fusion proteins and specific mutants, we demonstrated that the rapid recruitment of PC4 to laser-induced DNA damage sites is independent of poly(ADP-ribosyl)ation and gammaH2AX but depends on its single strand binding capacity. Furthermore, PC4 showed a high turnover at DNA damages sites compared with the repair factors replication protein A and proliferating cell nuclear antigen. We propose that PC4 plays a role in the early response to DNA damage by recognizing single-stranded DNA and may thus initiate or facilitate the subsequent steps of DNA repair.