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Reports

p73-mediated transcriptional activity is negatively regulated by Polo-like kinase 1

Surinder M. Soond, Sean Barry, Gerry Melino, Richard A. Knight, David S. Latchman and Anastasis Stephanou

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Trans-activating (TA) p73 is a member of the p53 family of transcription factors and has been implicated in cell cycle regulation, apoptosis and developmental processes. Although TAp73 positively regulates an overlapping repertoire of genes regulated by p53, TAp73 has been observed to be paradoxically over-expressed in a number of tumor cell types arousing much interest in the post-translational regulation of TAp73 transcriptional activity. Here, we present novel findings that show TAp73 can interact and co-localise, with Polo-Like Kinase 1 (PLK1) and that TAp73 is phosphorylated by this kinase on Threonine-27 (Thr-27) within the TA domain. Using reporter assays and Electrophoretic Mobility Shift Assays (EMSA), our findings suggest that TAp73-mediated activation of the p21cip/waf, 14-3-3σ and Bax gene promoters is abrogated by expressed PLK1 for which post-translational modification of TAp73 Thr-27 appears to be a key step in MCF7 cells. Thus highlighting a potential mechanism that uniquely contributes to PLK1-mediated and phosphor-dependent transcriptional deactivation of expressed TAp73.

Authors

Surinder M. Soond

University College London; London, UK

Sean Barry

University College London; London, UK

Gerry Melino

University of Leicester; Leicester, UK

Richard A. Knight

University College London; London, UK

David S. Latchman

University College London; London, UK

Anastasis Stephanou

University College London; London, UK

Purchase article for $19

Subscribe to this journal for $129/year