P53 TAD2 Domain (38-61) Forms Amyloid-like Aggregates in Isolation

In many cases, when cellular machinery is unable to restore changed protein conformations, they start sticking through exposed hydrophobic patches and form aggregates. A strong association between protein aggregation and Human diseases (such as Alzheimers, Parkinsons, and Huntingtons disease) is well proven. p53 is a transcription factor that is also known as the guardian of the genome associated with cellular processes such as DNA repair, apoptosis, senescence, control of cell cycle, stress signaling and cellular homeostasis. The loss of function mutations in p53 have been implicated in several cancers. Experimental evidences have proposed a possible link between cancer and protein aggregation in evidence of the implication of amyloidogenic mutant proteins in ten different types of cancer. Aggregation studies focusing on different P53 domains, mostly, the central core domain and its mutants under the influence of various environmental conditions and P53 TAD domain (1-63) have been reported. P53 TADs interact with diverse cellular factors to modulate the function of P53 and elicit appropriate cellular response under different stress conditions. In this study, the aggregation of P53 TAD2 domain (38-61) have been studied in isolation. The aggregates were generated in-vitro in acidic pH conditions after in-silico scoring for amyloidogenic propensity and characterized using dye-based assays (ThT and bis-ANS fluorescence), CD spectroscopy, and microscopy (SEM, TEM and AFM). It was observed that P53 TAD2 follows nucleation-dependent kinetics and forms amyloid-like aggregates. On reductionists approach, this study highlights the nature of P53 TAD2 domain (amino acids 38-61) aggregation.