The level of intracellular diadenosine 5, 5-P1,P4-tetraphosphate (Ap4A) increases several fold in mammalian cells treated with non-cytotoxic doses of interstrand DNA-crosslinking agents such as mitomycinC. It is also increased in cells lacking DNA repair proteins including XRCC1, PARP1, APTX and FANCG,while >50-fold increases (up to around 25 M) are achieved in repair mutants exposed to mitomycin C.Part of this induced Ap4A is converted into novel derivatives, identified as mono- and di-ADP-ribosylatedAp4A. Gene knockout experiments suggest that DNA ligase III is primarily responsible for the synthesisof damage-induced Ap4A and that PARP1 and PARP2 can both catalyze its ADP-ribosylation. Degrada-tive proteins such as aprataxin may also contribute to the increase. Using a cell-free replication system,Ap4A was found to cause a marked inhibition of the initiation of DNA replicons, while elongation wasunaffected. Maximum inhibition of 70–80% was achieved with 20 M Ap4A. Ap3A, Ap5A, Gp4G and ADP-ribosylated Ap4A were without effect. It is proposed that Ap4A acts as an important inducible ligand inthe DNA damage response to prevent the replication of damaged DNA.