La voie de dégradation CRL4Cdt2 régule le recrutement des ADN polymérases translésionnelles eta et kappa en foyers nucléaires après endommagements aux UV-C en ciblant pour dégradation les protéines qui contiennent des PIP box spécialisées

The sliding clamp PCNA is a versatile scaffold for more than fifty proteins involved in DNA metabolism such as replication and repair. How the switch between PCNA partners is regulated is currently not fully understood. Among its partners, Cdt1, p21 and PR-Set7/Set8 contain a specialized PCNA-binding motif named « PIP degron » that promotes their proteolysis in a fashion dependent on the E3 ubiquitin ligase CRL4Cdt2. Upon UV-irradiation, the replication initiation factor Cdt1 is rapidly destroyed in a PIP degron-dependent manner but the role of this degradation is unknown. Here we have analyzed the function of Cdt1 PIP degron and we provide evidence that interference with CRL4Cdt2-mediated destruction of Cdt1 in mammalian cells compromises PCNA-dependent relocalisation of the DNA translesion polymerase eta into UV-induced nuclear foci. By extending this analysis to other PCNA partners, we found that only PIP degrons, as compared to canonical PCNA-binding motifs of Fen1 and p15(PAF), interfere with pol eta focus formation. Mutagenesis of Cdt1 PIP degron revealed that a threonine residue conserved in PIP degrons is critical for inhibition of pol eta focus formation. Our results suggest that removal of high-affinity PIP degron-containing proteins from PCNA by CRL4Cdt2 pathway regulates pol eta recruitment to sites of UV-damage.