Ricerc@Sapienza

Background and aims: Poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP), a protein family that includes PARP1, is involved in cellular processes such as DNA repair, genomic stability and cell death. In addition, PARP1 has been recently demonstrated to be involved in several inflammatory diseases, such as septic shock, asthma, atherosclerosis as well as in cancer. The alarmin High-Mobility Group Box 1 (HMGB1) exhibits various functions according to its subcellular location, which is finely conditioned by diverse post-translational modifications.

The myogenic factor MyoD regulates skeletal muscle differentiation by interacting with a variety of chromatin-modifying complexes. Although MyoD can induce and maintain chromatin accessibility at its target genes, its binding and trans-activation ability can be limited by some types of not fully characterized epigenetic constraints. In this work we analysed the role of PARP1 in regulating MyoD-dependent gene expression. PARP1 is a chromatin-associated enzyme, playing a well recognized role in DNA repair and that is implicated in transcriptional regulation.