The Ku heterodimer plays an essential role in non-homologous end-joining and other cellular processes including transcription, telomere maintenance and apoptosis. While the function of Ku is regulated through its association with other proteins and nucleic acids, the specific composition of these macromolecular complexes and their dynamic response to endogenous and exogenous cellular stimuli are not well understood. Here we use quantitative proteomics to define the composition of Ku multicomponent complexes and demonstrate that they are dramatically altered in response to UV radiation. The Ku heterodimer (hereafter referred to as "Ku") is composed of 70 kDa (Ku70) and 86 kDa (Ku86) subunits that associate in stoichiometric quantities and bind DNA ends with high affinity as a first step in the nonhomologous end-joining DNA repair pathway. Ku binding to double strand breaks results in recruitment of the catalytic subunit of DNA-dependent protein kinase DNA-PKcs to form the holo-enzyme DNA-PK, followed by the exonuclease Artemis and the XRCC4-like factor XLF (1). The final stage of repair requires polymerase activity and the ligation of the DNA ends by a complex composed of the x-ray repair cross-complementing protein XRCC4 and DNA-ligase-IV (2-4). In addition to its DNA-directed activities, Ku and DNA-PKcs are known to regulate other cellular functions such as RNA-transcription (5-11), processing (12, 13) and telomere maintenance (12,14).The functional diversity of Ku suggests that its cellular activities are regulated by distinct sets of molecular interactions. To date, Ku protein partners include the RNA helicase RHA and several heterogeneous ribonucleoproteins (13), the Werner Syndrome associated protein WRN (15-17), poly-(ADP-ribose) polymerase I PARP-1 (17, 18), the yin-yang transcription factor YY1 (19), histone H2AX (20), and telomerase (12,14). Binary protein-protein interactions with Ku70 were also delineated by two-hybrid screen (21), whereas mass spectrometry-based approaches have been used to identify multicomponent protein complexes that copurify with Ku (22,23). These data provide a useful inventory of Ku protein partners, although the dynamics of specific interactions in response to exogenous or endogenous stimuli remain unknown. In addition, the mechanisms by which Ku selectively engages with DNA versus RNA and whether these nucleic acid interactions are dependent on Ku protein associations, is largely unexplored. Finally, although Ku resides in distinct nuclear compartments (24,25), the relationship between Ku localization and the molecular composition of its associated macromolecular complex is unresolved.In this study, we used biochemical and proteomics approaches to delineate Ku molecular interactions, localization, and dynamic response to DNA damage. Ultraviolet (UV) irradiation resulted in the recruitment of DNA-binding proteins to the multi-component Ku complex and a concomitant loss of RNA-binding proteins. Addition of DNA ends to the Ku complex in vitro induced the loss of RNA-mediated pro...