wt p53 dependent expression of a membrane-associated isoform of adenylate kinase

Six novel p53-inducible transcripts were recently cloned from Val5, a murine cell line stably expressing a temperature-sensitive p53 allele. One of the isolated clones represented a novel isoform of cytosolic adenylate kinase (AK1), a highly conserved monomeric enzyme involved in cellular homeostasis of adenine nucleotides. The corresponding protein, which we named AK1 beta, was specifically induced upon activation of wt p53 in Val5 cells. The AK1 beta protein differs from cytoplasmic AK1 by having 18 extra amino acids at the N-terminus. The extra residues in AK1 beta provide a consensus signal for N-terminal myristoylation; as expected, AK1 beta was shown to localize to the plasma membrane. The human AK1 gene contains several consensus p53 binding sites and we report that p53-dependent induction of the alternative AK1 beta transcript also occurs in human cells. By using antisense ablation experiments in Val5 fibroblasts we show that AK1 beta plays a relevant role in the establishment of reversible cell-cycle arrest as induced by p53 in these cells. These findings suggest that within a p53-dependent genetic program, a specific isoform of adenylate kinase has a previously undescribed growth regulatory function, which might not necessarily require its best characterized biochemical activity.