A recently discovered phosphatidylinositol monophosphate, phosphatidylinositol 5-phosphate (PtdIns-5-P), plays an important role in nuclear signaling by influencing p53-dependent apoptosis. It interacts with a plant homeodomain finger of inhibitor of growth protein-2, causing an increase in the acetylation and stability of p53. Here we show that type I phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate 4-phosphatase (type I 4-phosphatase), an enzyme that dephosphorylates phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate (PtdIns-4,5-P2), forming PtdIns-5-P in vitro, can increase the cellular levels of PtdIns-5-P. When HeLa cells were treated with the DNAdamaging agents etoposide or doxorubicin, type I 4-phosphatase translocated to the nucleus and nuclear levels of PtdIns-5-P increased. This action resulted in increased p53 acetylation, which stabilized p53, leading to increased apoptosis. Overexpression of type I 4-phosphatase increased apoptosis, whereas RNAi of the enzyme diminished it. The half-life of p53 was shortened from 7 h to 1.8 h upon RNAi of type I 4-phosphatase. This enzyme therefore controls nuclear levels of PtdIns-5-P and thereby p53-dependent apoptosis.acetylated p53 ͉ inositol signaling ͉ nuclear translocation I nositol lipids participate in a variety of intracellular signaling pathways including cytoskeletal dynamics, intracellular membrane trafficking, cell proliferation, and apoptosis (1, 2). In response to agonists, the phosphoinositide profile is modulated by phospholipases, lipid kinases, and lipid phosphatases. The lipid messengers transduce signals through binding to proteins with binding domains specific for different phosphoinositides.The most recently discovered of the seven known phosphoinositides is phosphatidylinositol 5-phosphate (PtdIns-5-P), and its function is the least understood (3). The origin of PtdIns-5-P in cells was until recently unknown. A study of changes in the cellular levels of PtdIns-5-P suggested that PtdIns-5-P arises from the action of a phosphatase rather than a kinase (4). Our discovery of two phosphatases that convert PtdIns-4,5-P 2 to PtdIns-5-P provides a route for synthesis of this lipid (5). Recently, it was suggested that PtdIns-5-P specifically interacts with a plant homeodomain (PHD) finger of inhibitor of growth protein-2 (ING2) protein, and that this interaction is required for ING2-dependent activation of p53, which leads to increased apoptosis (6). This suggestion was based on the finding that RNAi of ING2 or overexpression of the phosphatidylinositol phosphate kinase (PIPK) type II, an enzyme that converts PtdIns-5-P to PtdIns-4,5-P 2 , decreases apoptosis. Thus, it was presumed that both ING2 and PtdIns-5-P were required for acetylation of p53, although cellular PtdIns-5-P was not measured in that study (6).The ING2 is a member of the inhibitor of growth family and acts as a cofactor on the histone acetyltransferase complex that functions in chromatin remodeling and p53 acetylation and activation (7). Mutation of the PHD finger that renders PtdIns-5-P-binding defective...