Identification of Daxx interacting with p73, one of the p53 family, and its regulation of p53 activity by competitive interaction with PML

We performed a two-hybrid screen using p73α, which is a member of the p53 family, as bait. We found that the p53 family members were functionally associated with Daxx, which was described originally as a cytoplasmic mediator of Fas signaling, but has been identified recently as a nuclear protein that co-localizes with the promyelocytic leukemia (PML) protein and regulates transcription. Extensive yeast two-hybrid assays indicated a physical interaction between a region including the oligomerization domain (OD) of p73α (amino acids 345-380) or p53 (amino acids 319-360) and amino acids 161-311 end 667-740 (C-terminal S/P/T-rich domain) of hDaxx, which is the common binding region of Fas, ASK1 and PML. This interaction was further confirmed by in vitro GST pull-down and in vivo immunoprecipitation assays. Both Daxx and p73/p53 co-localized in nuclear dot-like structures, which are probably nuclear PML oncogenic domains (PODs) or the nuclear domain NB10. Transient co-expression of Daxx resulted in strong inhibition of p73- and p53-mediated transcriptional activation of the synthetic p53-responsive and p21WAF1 promoters. Consequently, Gal4-Daxx repressed basal transcription in a dose-dependent manner. Treatment with trichostatin A, which is an inhibitor of histone deacetylase, or PML overexpression relieved Daxx-mediated transcriptional repression of p53. The mechanism underlying PML-mediated derepression appears to be competitive binding between Daxx, p53 and PML. Taken together, these findings delineate a transcriptional regulatory network that is modulated by differential Daxx-p53-PML interactions in the nuclear PODs. Therefore, Daxx is implicated in the regulation of the cell cycle and apoptosis through transcriptional regulation of p53 and possibly its family members.