Binding of inositol hexakisphosphate (IP6) to Ku but not to DNA-PKcs

The nonhomologous DNA end joining (NHEJ) pathway is responsible for repairing a major fraction of double strand DNA breaks in somatic cells of all multicellular eukaryotes. As an indispensable protein in the NHEJ pathway, Ku has been hypothesized to be the first protein to bind at the DNA ends generated at a double strand break being repaired by this pathway. When bound to a DNA end, Ku improves the affinity of another DNA end-binding protein, DNA-PKcs, to that end. The Ku-DNA-PKcs complex is often termed the DNA-PK holoenzyme. It was recently shown that myo-inositol hexakisphosphate (IP6) stimulates the joining of complementary DNA ends in a cell free system. Moreover, the binding data suggested that IP6, bound to DNA-PUcs (not to Ku). Here we clearly show that, in fact, IP6 associates not with DNA-PKcs but rather with Ku. Furthermore, the binding of DNA ends and IP6 to Ku are independent of each other. The possible relationship between inositol phosphate metabolism and DNA repair is discussed in light of these findings.