Complex transcriptional effects of p63 isoforms: identification of novel activation and repression domains

p63 is a transcription factor structurally related to the p53 tumor suppressor. The C-terminal region differs from p53's in that it contains a sterile alpha motif (SAM) domain and is subject to multiple alternative splicings. The N-terminal region is present in the transactivation (TA) and AN configurations, with the latter lacking the transcriptional activation domain 1. Single amino acid substitutions and frameshift mutations of p63 cause the human ankyloblepharon ectodermal dysplasia clefting (AEC) or ectrodactyly ectodermal dysplasia and facial clefting (EEC) syndromes. We have systematically compared the activities of the wild-type p63 isoforms and of the natural mutants in activation and repression assays on three promoters modulated by p53. We found that p63 proteins with an altered SAM domain or no SAM domain-the beta isoforms, the EEC frameshift mutant, and the missense AEC mutations-all showed a distinctly higher level of activation of the MDM2 promoter and decreased repression on the HSP70 promoter. Fusion of SAM to the GAL4 DNA-binding domain repressed a heterologous promoter. A second activation domain, TA2, corresponding to exons 11 to 12, was uncovered by comparing the activation of AN isoforms on natural promoters and in GAL4 fusion systems. In colony formation assays, the AEC mutants, but not the EEC frameshift, were consistently less efficient in suppressing growth, in both the TA version and the AN version, with respect to their p63alpha counterparts. These data highlight the modularity of p63, identifying the SAM domain as a dominant transcriptional repression module and indicating that the AEC and EEC frameshift mutants are characterized by a subversion of the p63 transcriptional potential.