Non-Classical Nucleation of Tumor Suppressor P53 Fibrils Hosted by Mesoscopic Protein-Rich Clusters

About half of human cancers are associated with mutations of the tumor suppressor p53. Gained oncogenic functions of the mutants have been related to aggregation behaviors of wild-type and mutant p53. The thermodynamic and kinetic mechanisms of p53 aggregation are poorly understood. Here we find that wild-type p53 forms an abnormal phase, mesoscopic clusters. The clusters exhibit several behaviors beyond the scope of classical phase transition...