Substrate spectrum of PPM1D in the cellular response to DNA double-strand breaks

PPM1D is a p53-regulated protein phosphatase that modulates the DNA damage response (DDR) and is frequently altered in cancer. Here, we employed chemical inhibition of PPM1D and quantitative mass spectrometry-based phosphoproteomics to identify the substrates of PPM1D upon induction of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) by etoposide. We identified 73 putative PPM1D substrates that are involved in DNA repair, regulation of transcription, and RNA processing. One-third of DSB-induced S/TQ phosphorylation sites are dephosphorylated by PPM1D, demonstrating that PPM1D only partially counteracts ATM/ATR/DNA-PK signaling. PPM1D-targeted phosphorylation sites are found in a specific amino acid sequence motif that is characterized by glutamic acid residues, high intrinsic disorder, and poor evolutionary conservation. We identified a functionally uncharacterized protein Kanadaptin as ATM and PPM1D substrate upon DSB induction. We propose that PPM1D plays a role during the response to DSBs by regulating the phosphorylation of DNA- and RNA-binding proteins in intrinsically disordered regions.