Ub-family modifications at the replication fork: Regulating PCNA-interacting components

A vast array of proteins is recruited to the replication fork in a dynamic and coordinated manner through physical interactions with Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen, PCNA. How this complex exchange of PCNA binding partners is choreographed to ensure proper replication origin licensing, DNA synthesis during normal replication or repair of DNA damage, chromatin assembly, DNA methylation, histone modification, and sister chromatid cohesion is only beginning to be appreciated. In this review, several roles of ubiquitin-related modifications in the recruitment and turnover of PCNA-interacting proteins at the replication fork are considered. (C) 2011 Federation of European Biochemical Societies. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.