title: Denaturation of dsDNA by p53: fluorescence correlation spectroscopy study.
abstract: p53 activates transcription through interaction with specific DNA sequences in gene promoters. It also regulates DNA replication, recombination, and repair apparently through interactions with DNA intermediates of these reactions. Biochemical activities relevant for these functions of p53 include binding to the ends and internal segments of single-stranded DNA molecules, catalysis of DNA renaturation, and strand exchange. We report a novel activity of p53, its ability to denature double-stranded DNA molecules aggregated by basic peptides. Stable complexes of coiled single-stranded DNA molecules with basic peptides are formed in this reaction. Thus, complementary to the ability to catalyze DNA renaturation, p53 denatures double-stranded DNA when the latter reaction is thermodynamically favorable. This p53 activity, along with its ability to interact physically with DNA helicases, may be relevant for resolving double-stranded DNA intermediates and inhibition of DNA recombination, which is critical for guarding of the genome.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Vladana
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Vukojević
authors.forename: Tatiana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yakovleva
authors.forename: Lars
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Terenius
authors.forename: Aladdin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pramanik
authors.forename: Georgy
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bakalkin
mesh_terms: D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D009691:Nucleic Acid Denaturation; D011485:Protein Binding; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence / Q000379:methods*; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53; D004247:DNA