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LIFE01200604005 Shri Somnath Ghosh - Homi Bhabha National ...

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CHAPTER 1<br />

INTRODUCTION<br />

are unable to resolve the blockage of replication. Taken together, the replication<br />

machinery could be considered as an effective scanning apparatus that when blocked by<br />

DNA damage will recruit ATR kinase to sites of RPA-coated single-stranded DNA. This<br />

recruitment will then induce phosphorylation of numerous ATR substrates leading to the<br />

activation of S-phase and G2 cell cycle checkpoints and induction of DNA repair and/or<br />

apoptosis.<br />

1.3.1.3 ATM: a DNA damage sensor for DNA homologous recombination repair and<br />

cell cycle arrest<br />

Ataxia-telangiectasia (A-T) is a rare human disease characterized by cerebellar<br />

degeneration, immune system defects and cancer predisposition [29, 56, 57]. The disease<br />

has been the subject of intense scientific scrutiny, particularly since the identification in<br />

1995 of the gene mutated in A-T, ATM [58, 59]. The ataxia-telangiectasia mutated<br />

protein (ATM) has emerged as a central player in the cellular response to ionizing<br />

radiation (IR), in which it plays a critical role in the activation of cell cycle checkpoints<br />

that lead to DNA damage-induced arrest at G1/S, S, and G2/M. ATM is a member of the<br />

phosphatidylinositol 3-kinaselike family of serine/threonine protein kinases (PIKKs).<br />

Other members of this protein family include ATM- and Rad3-related (ATR), DNAdependent<br />

protein kinase catalytic subunit (DNA-PKcs), mammalian target of rapamycin<br />

(mTOR), and ATX/hSMG-1 [29, 60]. The PIKKs represent a subclass of “atypical”<br />

protein kinases within the overall eukaryotic protein kinase family [61]. ATM, like other<br />

members of this protein kinase family, phosphorylates its substrates on serine or<br />

threonine that is followed by glutamine, i.e. an SQ or TQ motif [62, 63]. ATM shares<br />

several features with other members of the PIKK family, including a FAT domain<br />

41

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