Raf phosphorylates p53 in vitro and potentiates p53-dependent transcriptional transactivation in vivo.

Using recombinant baculovirus expressed p53 and Raf proteins, we show that activated Raf-1 kinase can phosphorylate mouse p53 in vitro. We also show that co-expression of vRaf and p53 in NIH3T3 fibroblasts, potentiates the ability of p53 to transactivate a minimal promoter with a p53 cognate DNA binding site. A dominant negative mutant of Raf inhibits the transactivation function of p53 in NIH3T3 fibroblasts. Incubation of Raf-1 kinase with a series of p53 derived synthetic peptides maps the Raf-1 phosphorylation sites to the 27 amino terminal residue region of p53 which coincides with the transactivation domain. Phosphorylation occurs on serines which are phosphorylated in vivo. Our results suggest that the transactivation function of p53 can be regulated by a signaling cascade involving Raf.