Lysine methylation and the regulation of p53.

The p53 tumour suppressor protein functions as a guardian against genotoxic stress. This function is mediated in part by the transcriptional activation of genes involved in cell-cycle arrest, apoptosis, DNA repair and autophagy. The activity of p53 is regulated by a complex array of post-translational modifications, which function as a code to determine cellular responses to a given stress. In this chapter we highlight recent advances in our understanding of this code, with particular reference to lysine methylation, and discuss implications for future research.