A half-site of the p53-binding site on the keratin 14 promoter is specifically activated by p63.

Three members of p53 family, p53, p63 and p73, can transactivate their specific target genes through a p53 consensus sequence-binding motif which consists with direct repeats of PuPuPuC(T/A)(T/A)GPyPyPy as a whole-site of p53-binding site. p63, an epidermal stem cells marker, can regulate epidermal development and differentiation, but p53 has no similar biological activity. One isoform of p63, TAp63α, can active an epidermal basal cell marker, keratin 14. However, the p53-binding site does not exist as a whole-site in the K14 promoter region, although it contains three putative p53 half-binding sites at -269 to -1 of the K14 promoter. Two of three putative half-sites of the p53-binding site can be bound by p63α by electrophoresis mobility shift assay and DNA affinity purification assay. Only mutation of the p53 half-binding site at -140 to -131, the TAp63α induced K14 promoter activity can be abolished. This half-site was specifically activated by p63, but not by p53. Once we extend this p53 half-site to a whole p53-binding site in K14 promoter, both p53 and p63 expression vectors can activate its activity. Therefore, we propose that the different length of p53-binding site would determinate the gene regulated by different p53 family proteins.