The activation domains, the proline-rich domain, and the C-terminal basic domain in p53 are necessary for acetylation of histones on the proximal p21 promoter and interaction with p300/CREB-binding protein.

The p53 transcription factor contains two separate tandem activation domains (AD1 and AD2), a proline-rich domain (PRD), and a C-terminal basic domain (BD). Previously, we have shown that these domains are necessary for transcriptional activity. To further characterize the role of these domains in transactivation, we analyzed the regulation of p21, a well characterized p53 target gene, by various p53 mutants deficient in one or more of these domains. We found that the induction of endogenous p21 is compromised by AD1-deficient p53 (p53(AD1(-))), AD2-deficient p53 (p53(AD2(-))), both AD1- and AD2-deficient p53 (p53(AD1(-)AD2(-))), p53(deltaPRD), which lacks PRD, and p53(deltaBD), which lacks BD. However, p53(AD2(-)), p53(deltaPRD), and p53(deltaBD) are still capable of activating exogenous p21 promoter to an extent comparable with that by wild-type p53. Thus, we performed chromatin immunoprecipitation assay to measure the DNA binding ability of various p53 mutants in vivo. We found that like wild-type p53, these p53 mutants are capable of binding to the p53 response elements in the p21 promoter. In contrast, we found that the extent of acetylated histones on the p21 promoter, especially the proximal promoter, and the amount of interaction with p300/CREB-binding protein, which contain histone acetyltransferase activity, directly correlate with the activity of p53 to induce endogenous p21. Furthermore, we showed that down-regulation of p300/CBP by short interference RNA markedly decreases the ability of p53 to induce endogenous p21. These data lead us to hypothesize that when p53 binds to the responsive element(s) of a target gene, its ability to interact with histone acetyltransferase-containing proteins and subsequently the acetylation of histones bound to the proximal promoter dictate the induction level of a target gene.