title: A positive feedback mechanism in the transcriptional activation of Apaf-1 by p53 and the coactivator Zac-1.
abstract: p53 exerts its tumor suppressor effects by activating genes involved in cell growth arrest and programmed cell death. The p53 target genes inducing growth arrest are well defined whereas those inducing apoptosis are not fully characterized. Proapoptotic activity of p53 was shown to involve several genes like Bax, Noxa and Puma, which may function in the release of cytochrome c from the mitochondria. Cytochrome c associates with Apaf-1 and caspase 9 to form the apoptosome. Genetic and cellular data indicate that Apaf-1 deficiency abrogates the apoptotic effect of p53 and substitutes for p53 loss in promoting tumor formation. Here we show that Apaf-1, the mammalian homologue of C. elegans CED4, is a direct target of p53 as demonstrated by gel shift analysis of the target site sequence in the presence of p53 and by Apaf-1 promoter-luciferase assays. We also show that the p53 activation of the Apaf-1 luciferase construct can be enhanced by the putative tumor suppressor gene product, Zac-1, a transcription factor that has previously been shown to inhibit cell proliferation. Furthermore, we demonstrate that Zac-1 is a possible direct target of p53 since the sequence upstream to the first coding exon of Zac-1 contains a p53 recognition site and the luciferase construct containing this region is activated by p53. These results suggests the existence of a tightly controlled self amplifying mechanism of transcriptional activation leading to apoptosis by p53.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Hemato-Oncology, The Chaim Sheba Medical Center and Sackler School of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Israel.
authors.forename: Galit
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rozenfeld-Granot
authors.forename: Janakiraman
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Krishnamurthy
authors.forename: Karuppiah
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kannan
authors.forename: Amos
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Toren
authors.forename: Ninette
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Amariglio
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Givol
authors.forename: Gideon
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rechavi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D053477:Apoptotic Protease-Activating Factor 1; D001483:Base Sequence; D001665:Binding Sites; D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D002460:Cell Line; D024202:Electrophoretic Mobility Shift Assay; D017930:Genes, Reporter; D016147:Genes, Tumor Suppressor; D006801:Humans; D008156:Luciferases / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D014176:Protein Biosynthesis; D011506:Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000096:biosynthesis; D015534:Trans-Activators / Q000378:metabolism*; D014157:Transcription Factors; D015533:Transcriptional Activation; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 / Q000378:metabolism*; D025521:Tumor Suppressor Proteins; D015854:Up-Regulation
chemical_list: C506592:APAF1 protein, human; C506593:Apaf1 protein, mouse; D053477:Apoptotic Protease-Activating Factor 1; D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins; C106464:PLAGL1 protein, human; C498423:Plagl1 protein, mouse; D011506:Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D015534:Trans-Activators; D014157:Transcription Factors; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53; D025521:Tumor Suppressor Proteins; D008156:Luciferases