p53 is an allosterically regulated protein with a latent DNA-binding activity. Posttranslational modification of a carboxy-terminal regulatory site in vitro, by casein kinase II and protein kinase C, can activate the sequence-specific DNA-binding function of the wild-type protein. The latent form of p53 is produced in a variety of eukaryotic and prokaryotic cell lines, including E. coli, Sf9 insect cells, and C6 cells, indicating that the activation of p53 in vivo is rate-limiting. In addition, phosphorylation of p53 at the protein kinase C site and activation in vivo correlate with the loss of reactivity of active p53 protein to the carboxy-terminal antibody, PAb421. These results suggest that two highly conserved protein kinases modify polypeptide structure through a common biochemical mechanism and that different enzymatic pathways may channel information into the carboxy-terminal regulatory site of p53, allosterically activating its function as a tumor suppressor.

The tumor suppressor protein p53 is activated by distinct cellular stresses including radiation, hypoxia, type I interferon, and DNA/RNA virus infection. The transactivation domain of p53 contains a phosphorylation site at Ser 20 whose modification stabilizes the binding of the transcriptional co-activator p300 and whose mutation in murine transgenics induces B-cell lymphoma. Although the checkpoint kinase CHK2 is implicated in promoting Ser 20 site phosphorylation after irradiation, the enzyme that triggers this phosphorylation after DNA viral infection is undefined. Using human herpesvirus 6B (HHV-6B) as a virus that induces Ser 20 site phosphorylation of p53 in T-cells, we sought to identify the kinase responsible for this virus-induced p53 modification. The p53 Ser 20 kinase was fractionated and purified using cation, anion, and dye-ligand exchange chromatography. Mass spectrometry identified casein kinase 1 (CK1) and vaccinia-related kinase 1 (VRK1) as enzymes that coeluted with virus-induced Ser 20 site kinase activity. Immunodepletion of CK1 but not VRK1 removed the kinase activity from the peak fraction, and bacterially expressed CK1 exhibited Ser 20 site kinase activity equivalent to that of the virus-induced native CK1. CK1 modified p53 in a docking-dependent manner, which is similar to other known Ser 20 site p53 kinases. Low levels of the CK1 inhibitor D4476 selectively inhibited HHV-6B-induced Ser 20 site phosphorylation of p53. However, x-ray-induced Ser 20 site phosphorylation of p53 was not blocked by D4476. These data highlight a central role for CK1 as the Ser 20 site kinase for p53 in DNA virus-infected cells but also suggest that distinct stresses may selectively trigger different protein kinases to modify the transactivation domain of p53 at Ser 20 .The tumor suppressor protein p53 is a key player in the survival or death decision that cells face after exposure to a variety of metabolic and genotoxic stresses (1). The transient accumulation and activation of p53 in response to various cellular stresses enables the protein to modulate the expression of numerous genes involved in cell cycle arrest, DNA repair, and/or apoptosis. The initiation of either transient cell cycle arrest and damage repair or apoptosis is dependent on the cell and damage type, the severity of damage, and the cellular microenvironment. Phosphorylation and acetylation events that control interactions between the transcription factor p53 and its negative regulators (Mdm2, COP1, and Pirh2) or coactivators (p300) are ultimately involved in modulating p53-dependent gene expression in response to cellular stress (2). In particular, phosphorylation at Thr 18 within the N-terminal conserved BOX-I domain of p53 blocks the binding of Mdm2, whereas phosphorylation at Ser 20 , also within the BOX-I domain, enables the binding of p300 (3-5). Thus, phosphorylation in this transactivation domain serves to stimulate rather than inhibit p53 function. In addition, phosphorylation at Ser 392 within the C terminus of p53 stimulates the seq...

Cyclin-dependent protein kinases play important roles in cell cycle progression and are attractive targets for the design of anti-proliferative drugs. Two distinct synthetic CDK1/2 inhibitors, Roscovitine and NU2058, are pharmacologically distinct in their ability to modify p53-dependent transcription and perturb cell cycle progression. Although such active-site CDK1/2 inhibitors comprise the most standard type of enzyme inhibitor, many protein kinases are proving to harbour high affinity docking sites that may provide a potentially novel interface for the design of kinase-inhibitors. We examined whether CDK2 has a docking site for its oligomeric substrate p53, whether small-peptide leads can be developed that inhibit CDK2 function, and whether such peptide-inhibitors are pharmacologically distinct from Roscovitine or NU2058. A docking site for CDK2 was identified in the tetramerization domain of p53 at a site that is distinct from the phospho-acceptor site. Peptides derived from the tetramerization domain of p53 block CDK2 phosphorylation and identification of critical CDK2 contacts in the tetramerization domain of p53 suggest that kinase docking does not require tetramerization of the substrate. Transient transfection assays were developed to show that the GFP-CDK2 docking site fusion protein (GFP-CIP) attenuates p53 activity in vivo and suppresses p21 WAF1 induction which is similar to NU2058 but distinct from Roscovitine. A stable cell line with an inducible GFP-CIP gene attenuates p53 activity and induces significant cell death in a drug-resistant melanoma cell line, sensitizes cells to death induced by Doxorubicin, and suppresses cell growth in a colony formation assay. These data indicate that CDK2, in addition to cyclin A, can have a high affinity docking site for a substrate and highlights the possibility that CDK2 docking sites may represent effective targets for inhibitor design.

Biochemical characterisation of the interaction of mdm2 protein with p53 protein has demonstrated that full-length mdm2 does not bind stably to p53^DNA complexes, contrasting with C-terminal truncations of mdm2 which do bind stably to p53^DNA complexes. In addition, tetrameric forms of the p53His175 mutant protein in the PAb1620+ conformation are reduced in binding to mdm2 protein. These data suggest that the mdm2 binding site in the BOX-I domain of p53 becomes concealed when either p53 binds to DNA or when the core domain of p53 is unfolded by missense mutation. This further suggests that the C-terminus of mdm2 protein contains a negative regulatory domain that affects mdm2 protein binding to a second, conformationally sensitive interaction site in the core domain of p53. We investigated whether there was a second docking site on p53 for mdm2 protein by examining the interaction of full-length mdm2 with p53 lacking the BOX-I domain. Although mdm2 protein did bind very weakly to p53 protein lacking the BOX-I domain, addition of RNA activated mdm2 protein binding to this truncated form of p53. These data provide evidence for three previously undefined regulatory stages in the p53^mdm2 binding reaction: (1) conformational changes in p53 protein due to DNA binding or point mutation conceals a secondary docking site of mdm2 protein; (2) the C-terminus of mdm2 is the primary determinant which confers this property upon mdm2 protein; and (3) mdm2 protein binding to this secondary interaction site within p53 can be stabilised by RNA.z 2000 Federation of European Biochemical Societies.

Ataxia-telangiectasia mutated (ATM) kinase is a component of a signalling mechanism that determines the process of decision-making in response to DNA damage and involves the participation of multiple proteins. ATM is activated by DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) through the Mre11–Rad50–Nbs1 (MRN) DNA repair complex, and orchestrates signalling cascades that initiate the DNA damage response. Cells lacking ATM are hypersensitive to insults, particularly genotoxic stress, induced through radiation or radiomimetic drugs. Here, we investigate the degree of ATM activation during time-dependent treatment with genotoxic agents and the effects of ATM on phospho-induction and localization of its downstream substrates. Additionally, we have demonstrated a new cell-cycle-independent mechanism of ATM gene regulation following ATM kinase inhibition with KU5593. Inhibition of ATM activity causes induction of ATM protein followed by oscillation and this mechanism is governed at the transcriptional level. Furthermore, this autoregulatory induction of ATM is also accompanied by a transient upregulation of p53, pATR and E2F1 levels. Since ATM inhibition is believed to sensitize cancer cells to genotoxic agents, this novel insight into the mechanism of ATM regulation might be useful for designing more precise strategies for modulation of ATM activity in cancer therapy.