Temperature-Sensitive Mutants of p53 Homologs

Two homologs of the p53 tumor suppressor, p63 and p73 have recently been discovered. These proteins have activities similar to p53 in cell culture but have distinct developmental functions in vivo. We found that temperature-sensitive mutants of certain p63 and p73 isoforms can be created by single amino acid substitutions of an alanine residue corresponding to alanine 135 of murine p53. The mutants (p63gamma-Pro167, p73alpha-Leu156 and...