ADP-ribosylation and intracellular traffic: an emerging role for PARP enzymes

ADP-ribosylation is an ancient and reversible post-translational modification (PTM) of proteins, in which the ADP-ribose moiety is transferred from NAD(+) to target proteins by members of poly-ADP-ribosyl polymerase (PARP) family. The 17 members of this family have been involved in a variety of cellular functions, where their regulatory roles are exerted through the modification of specific substrates, whose identification is crucial to fully define the contribution of this PTM. Evidence of the role of the PARPs is now available both in the context of physiological processes and of cell responses to stress or starvation. An emerging role of the PARPs is their control of intracellular transport, as it is the case for tankyrases/PARP5 and PARP12. Here, we discuss the evidence pointing at this novel aspect of PARPs-dependent cell regulation.