SUMOylation of HNRNPA2B1 modulates RPA dynamics during unperturbed replication and genotoxic stress responses

Abstract

Replication protein A (RPA) is a major regulator of eukaryotic DNA metabolism involved in multiple essential cellular processes. Maintaining appropriate RPA dynamics is crucial for cells to prevent RPA exhaustion, which can lead to replication fork breakage and replication catastrophe. However, how cells regulate RPA availability during unperturbed replication and in response to stress has not been well elucidated. Here, we show that HNRNPA2B1^SUMO functions as an endogenous inhibitor of RPA during normal replication. HNRNPA2B1^SUMO associates with RPA through recognizing the SUMO-interacting motif (SIM) of RPA to inhibit RPA accumulation at replication forks and impede local ATR activation. Declining HNRNPA2^SUMO induced by DNA damage will release nuclear soluble RPA to localize to chromatin and enable ATR activation. Furthermore, we characterize that HNRNPA2B1 hinders homologous recombination (HR) repair via limiting RPA availability, thus conferring sensitivity to PARP inhibitors. These findings establish HNRNPA2B1 as a critical player in RPA-dependent surveillance networks.

Keywords: ATR; ATRIP; DNA damage; HNRNPA2B1; RPA; SUMOylation; breast cancer; homologous recombination; replication stress.