In mammalian cells, the base excision repair (BER) pathway is the main route to counteract the mutagenic effects of DNA lesions. DNA nicks induce, among others, DNA polymerase activities and the synthesis of poly-(ADP-ribose). It is shown here that poly(ADP-ribose) serves as an energy source for the final and rate-limiting step of BER, DNA ligation. This conclusion was drawn from experiments in which the fate of [ 32 P]poly(ADPribose) or [ 32 P]NAD added to HeLa nuclear extracts was systematically followed. ATP was synthesized from poly-(ADP-ribose) in a pathway that strictly depended on nick-induced DNA synthesis. NAD was used for the synthesis of poly(ADP-ribose), which, in turn, was converted to ATP by pyrophosphorylytic cleavage utilizing the pyrophosphate generated from dNTPs during DNA synthesis. The adenylyl moiety was then preferentially used to adenylate DNA ligase III, from which it was transferred to the 5 -phosphoryl end of the nicked DNA. Finally, ligation to the 3 -OH end resulted in the release of AMP. When using NAD, but not poly(ADP-ribose), in the presence of 3-aminobenzamide, the entire process was blocked, confirming poly(ADP-ribosyl)ation to be the essential initial step. Thus, poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase-1, DNA polymerase , and ligase III interact with x-ray repair cross-complementing protein-1 within the BER complex, which ensures that ATP is generated and specifically used for DNA ligation.The maintenance of an intact genome is crucial to each individual. Therefore, DNA damages need to be efficiently removed, which is accomplished by complex DNA repair mechanisms (reviewed in Ref. 1). The major pathway, BER, 1 is initiated by DNA glycosylases that cleave the base-deoxyribose glycosyl bond of a damaged nucleotide residue. Then, endonucleases are recruited that cleave the chain on the 5Ј side of the abasic site. As a result, nicked DNA intermediates occur. Nicked DNA, in turn, triggers the catalytic activities of DNA polymerase  (Pol ) and poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 (PARP-1) (2-4).Several different enzymes with poly(ADP-ribosyl)ation activity (EC 2.4.2.30) have been described recently, but the major cellular pathway of NAD catabolism in response to the appearance of DNA lesions has been ascribed to the catalytic activity of the 116-kDa protein reviewed in Ref. 5). Besides a potential participation of PARP-1 in transcription (6, 7), recombination, apoptosis, and necrosis (5), a large number of molecular and genetic studies have clearly implicated PARP-1 activity in positively regulating BER (8, 9). Originally, it was suggested that poly(ADP-ribosyl)ation may activate a DNA ligase required for DNA repair in mammalian cells (10). Several further investigations confirmed a positive influence of PARP-1 activity on DNA repair, especially on DNA ligation reviewed in Ref. 9). However, the actual function of PARP-1 in the BER process and the mechanism whereby poly(ADP-ribose) synthesis stimulates ligation (14) have still remained obscure (reviewed in Ref. 9). X-ray repair cross-complementing...