title: Nuclear degradation of p53 occurs during down-regulation of the p53 response after DNA damage.
abstract: The principal regulator of p53 stability is HDM2, an E3 ligase that mediates p53 degradation via the ubiquitin-26S proteasome pathway. The current model holds that p53 degradation occurs exclusively on cytoplasmic proteasomes and hence has an absolute requirement for nuclear export of p53 via the CRM-1 pathway. However, proteasomes are abundant in both cytosol and nucleus, and no studies have been done to determine under what physiological circumstances p53 degradation might occur in the nucleus. We analyzed HDM2-mediated degradation of endogenous p53 in the presence of various nuclear export inhibitors of CRM-1, including leptomycin B (LMB), a noncompetitive, specific, and fast-acting inhibitor; and HTLV1-Rex protein, a potent competitive inhibitor. We found that significant HDM2-mediated p53 degradation took place in the presence of LMB or HTLV1-Rex, indicating that endogenous p53 degradation occurs locally in the nucleus, in parallel to cytoplasmic degradation. Moreover, p53 null cells that coexpressed export-defective mutants of p53 and HDM2 retained partial competence for p53 degradation. It is important that nuclear degradation of p53 occurred during the poststress recovery phase of a p53 response, after DNA damage ceased. We propose that the capability of local p53 degradation within the nucleus provides a tighter and faster control during the down-regulatory phase, when an active p53 program needs to be turned off quickly.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, New York 11794, USA.
authors.forename: Troy R
authors.initials: TR
authors.lastname: Shirangi
authors.forename: Alex
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zaika
authors.forename: Ute M
authors.initials: UM
authors.lastname: Moll
mesh_terms: D021581:Active Transport, Cell Nucleus; D000818:Animals; D002460:Cell Line; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000378:metabolism*; D003593:Cytoplasm / Q000378:metabolism; D004249:DNA Damage; D015536:Down-Regulation; D016370:Gene Products, rex / Q000494:pharmacology; D007700:Kinetics; D008954:Models, Biological; D009154:Mutation; D019913:Nuclear Localization Signals; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000502:physiology; D051736:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-mdm2; D014162:Transfection; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D016370:Gene Products, rex; D019913:Nuclear Localization Signals; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53; D051736:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-mdm2