APE1 assembles biomolecular condensates to promotethe ATR-Chk1 DNA damage response in nucleolus

Abstract

Multifunctional protein APE1/APEX1/HAP1/Ref-1 (designated as APE1) plays important roles in nuclease-mediated DNA repair and redox regulation in transcription. However, it is unclear how APE1 regulates the DNA damage response (DDR) pathways and influences genome integrity directly or indirectly. Here we show that siRNA-mediated APE1-knockdown or APE1 inhibitor treatment attenuates the ATR-Chk1 DDR under stress conditions in multiple immortalized cell lines. Congruently, APE1 overexpression (APE1-OE) activates the ATR DDR under unperturbed conditions, which is independent of APE1 nuclease and redox functions. Structural and functional analysis reveals a direct requirement of the extreme N-terminal 33 amino acids (NT33) within APE1 in the assembly of distinct biomolecular condensates in vitro and DNA/RNA-independent activation of the ATR DDR. Overexpressed APE1 co-localizes with nucleolar NPM1 and assembles biomolecular condensates in nucleoli in cancer but not non-malignant cells, which recruits ATR and its direct activator molecules TopBP1 and ETAA1. APE1 W119R mutant is deficient in nucleolar condensation and liquid-liquid phase separation and is incapable of activating nucleolar ATR DDR. Lastly, APE1-OE-induced nucleolar ATR DDR activation leads to compromised ribosomal RNA transcription and reduced cell viability. Taken together, we propose distinct mechanisms by which APE1 regulates ATR DDR pathways and functions in genome integrity maintenance.