Identify the protein partners of Ercc1 in DNA damage progeria in MEFs

ERCC1 is a DNA endonuclease participating in the Nucleotide Excision Repair (NER) pathway. Its functionality is related to XPF; the two proteins work as a heterodimer to incise the 5 of a 30-mer that contains the damaged nucleotide and remove the fragment together with XPG. Apart from NER deficiency, mutated Ercc1 in mice and humans causes a series of progeroid symptoms (premature ageing). We hypothesize that there are undescribed functions of ERCC1, possibly in transcriptional regulation that contribute to the development of the striking phenotypes observed. The aim is to identify previously uncharacterized protein partners of ERCC1 that might contribute to our understanding of its differential roles during DNA damage-driven progeria.