Lee M, Park S, Song H, Park J S
Department of Chemistry, Seoul National University, Korea.
Biochem Mol Biol Int. 1998 Nov;46(4):765-74. doi: 10.1080/15216549800204312.
The adult rat liver is normally in a state of growth arrest. However, cell loss such as partial hepatectomy can induce the proliferation of the hepatocytes. Early after partial hepatectomy, the concentration of p53 mRNA increases during the prereplicative phase. In this study, we identified the cis-regulatory element involved in the induced transcription of the rat p53 gene by DNase I footprinting assay. This element had a partial homology to the AP1 recognition motif, but the competition study with AP1 oligonucleotide showed that this element was not the AP1 recognition motif. The molecular weight of the binding protein to this motif was determined as 39 kDa by southwestern blotting analysis. In vitro transcription assay with the competitor containing the binding motif showed that the 39 kDa protein binding to the element was required for the induced transcription of the rat p53 gene during the liver regeneration.
