A nonsynonymous single-nucleotide polymorphism at codon 47 in TP53 exists in African-descent populations (P47S, rs1800371; referred to here as S47). Here we report that, in human cell lines and a mouse model, the S47 variant exhibits a modest decrease in apoptosis in response to most genotoxic stresses compared with wild-type p53 but exhibits a significant defect in cell death induced by cisplatin. We show that, compared with wild-type p53, S47 has nearly indistinguishable transcriptional function but shows impaired ability to transactivate a subset of p53 target genes, including two involved in metabolism: Gls2 (glutaminase 2) and Sco2. We also show that human and mouse cells expressing the S47 variant are markedly resistant to cell death by agents that induce ferroptosis (ironmediated nonapoptotic cell death). We show that mice expressing S47 in homozygous or heterozygous form are susceptible to spontaneous cancers of diverse histological types. Our data suggest that the S47 variant may contribute to increased cancer risk in individuals of African descent, and our findings highlight the need to assess the contribution of this variant to cancer risk in these populations. These data also confirm the potential relevance of metabolism and ferroptosis to tumor suppression by p53.

SUMMARY p53 is well known for its tumor suppressor role, but this protein also has a poorly understood role in the regulation of metabolism. Human studies have implicated a common polymorphism at codon 72 of p53 in diabetic and pre-diabetic phenotypes. To understand this role, we utilized a humanized mouse model of the p53 codon 72 variants and monitored these mice following challenge with a high fat diet (HFD). Mice with the arginine 72 (R72) variant of p53 developed more severe obesity and glucose intolerance on a HFD, compared to mice with the proline 72 variant (P72). R72 mice developed insulin resistance, islet hypertrophy, increased infiltration of immune cells, and fatty liver disease. Gene expression analyses and studies with small molecule inhibitors indicate that the p53 target genes Tnf and Npc1l1 underlie this phenotype. These results shed light on the role of p53 in obesity, metabolism and inflammation.

Cancers exhibit altered metabolism characterized by increased glucose and glutamine uptake. The hexosamine biosynthetic pathway (HBP) utilizes glucose and glutamine, and directly contributes to O-linked-β-N-acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNAc) modifications on intracellular proteins. Multiple tumor types contain elevated total O-GlcNAcylation, in part, by increasing O-GlcNAc transferase (OGT) levels, the enzyme that catalyzes this modification. Although cancer cells require OGT for oncogenesis, it is not clear how tumor cells regulate OGT expression and O-GlcNAcylation. Here, it is shown that the PI3K/mTOR/MYC signaling pathway is required for elevation of OGT and O-GlcNAcylation in breast cancer cells. Treatment with PI3K and mTOR inhibitors reduced OGT protein expression and decreased levels of overall O-GlcNAcylation. In addition, both AKT and mTOR activation is sufficient to elevate OGT/O-GlcNAcylation. Downstream of mTOR, the oncogenic transcription factor c-MYC is required and sufficient for increased OGT protein expression in an RNA-independent manner and c-MYC regulation of OGT mechanistically requires the expression of c-MYC transcriptional target HSP90A. Lastly, mammary tumor epithelial cells derived from MMTV-c-myc transgenic mice contain elevated OGT and O-GlcNAcylation and OGT inhibition in this model induces apoptosis. Thus, OGT and O-GlcNAcylation levels are elevated via activation of an mTOR/MYC cascade.

The tumor suppressor protein p53, encoded by TP53, inhibits tumorigenesis by inducing cell cycle arrest, senescence and apoptosis. Several genetic polymorphisms exist in TP53, including a proline to arginine variant at amino acid 72 (P72 and R72, respectively); this polymorphism alters p53 function. In general, the P72 variant shows increased ability to induce cell cycle arrest, while the R72 variant possesses increased ability to induce apoptosis, relative to P72. At present, the underlying mechanisms for these functional differences are not fully understood. Toward elucidating the molecular basis for these differences a gene expression microarray analysis was conducted on normal human fibroblast cells that are homozygous for P72 and R72 variants, along with subclones of these lines that express a p53 short hairpin (shp53). Approximately three dozen genes were identified whose transactivation is affected by the codon 72 polymorphism. One of these is the tripartite motif family-like 2 (TRIML2) gene, which is preferentially induced by the R72 variant. Importantly, the accumulated data indicate that TRIML2 interacts with p53, and facilitates the modification of p53 with SUMO2. TRIML2 also enhances the ability of p53 to transactivate a subset of pro-apoptotic target genes associated with prolonged oxidative stress, including PIDD, PIG3 (TP53I3) and PIG6 (PRODH). These data indicate that TRIML2 is part of a feed-forward loop that activates p53 in cells expressing the R72 variant, particularly after prolonged stress.

In response to DNA damage, two general but fundamental processes occur in the cell: (1) a DNA lesion is recognized and repaired, and (2) concomitantly, the cell halts the cell cycle to provide a window of opportunity for repair to occur. An essential factor for a proper DNA-damage response is the heterotrimeric protein complex Replication Protein A (RPA). Of particular interest is hyperphosphorylation of the 32-kDa subunit, called RPA2, on its serine/threonine-rich amino (N) terminus following DNA damage in human cells. The unstructured N-terminus is often referred to as the phosphorylation domain and is conserved among eukaryotic RPA2 subunits, including Rfa2 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. An aspartic acid/alanine-scanning and genetic interaction approach was utilized to delineate the importance of this domain in budding yeast. It was determined that the Rfa2 N-terminus is important for a proper DNA-damage response in yeast, although its phosphorylation is not required. Subregions of the Rfa2 N-terminus important for the DNA-damage response were also identified. Finally, an Rfa2 N-terminal hyperphosphorylation-mimetic mutant behaves similarly to another Rfa1 mutant (rfa1-t11) with respect to genetic interactions, DNA-damage sensitivity, and checkpoint adaptation. Our data indicate that post-translational modification of the Rfa2 N-terminus is not required for cells to deal with "repairable" DNA damage; however, post-translational modification of this domain might influence whether cells proceed into M-phase in the continued presence of unrepaired DNA lesions as a "last-resort" mechanism for cell survival.KEYWORDS Replication Protein A; DNA damage; checkpoint adaptation; phosphorylation; genetic interaction C ELLS encounter environmental stress on a continual basis and have evolved mechanisms to monitor the integrity of the genome and prevent temporary DNA lesions from becoming permanent DNA mutations. A central factor in genome monitoring is the protein complex Replication Protein A (RPA). The canonical RPA complex is composed of three subunits named RPA1, RPA2, and RPA3, also often referred to by their apparent molecular weights as RPA70, RPA32, and RPA14, respectively (Wold 1997;Iftode et al. 1999;Fanning et al. 2006;Zou et al. 2006;Oakley and Patrick 2010). Originally identified as a protein complex essential for in vitro SV40 DNA replication (Wold and Kelly 1988;Wold et al. 1989;Weinberg et al. 1990), this complex is also essential for DNA repair/ recombination (Longhese et al. 1994;Firmenich et al. 1995;Sung 1997;Umezu et al. 1998) and has roles in cell-cycle regulation (Longhese et al. 1996;Lee et al. 1998;Anantha et al. 2008;Anantha and Borowiec 2009). This is consistent with the major biochemical function of RPA, which is highaffinity binding to single-strand DNA (ssDNA), an intermediate of replication, repair/recombination, and substrate for checkpoint activation (Smith et al. 2010;Flynn and Zou 2010;Mimitou and Symington 2011;Ashton et al. 2013). In addition to acting as a "sensor" of DNA damag...