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Updated: Aug 2, 2026

Analysis of Cell Cycle Position in Mammalian Cells
Published on: January 21, 2012
p130/E2F4 binds to and represses the cdc2 promoter in response to p53
W R Taylor1, A H Schonthal, J Galante
1Department of Molecular Biology, Lerner Research Institute, The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio 44195, USA.
Abstract:
p53 represses the transcription of cdc2 and cyclin B1, causing loss of Cdc2 activity and G(2) arrest. Here we show that the region -22 to -2 of the cdc2 promoter called the R box is required for repression by p53 but not for basal promoter activity. The R box confers p53-dependent repression on heterologous promoters and binds to p130/E2F4 in response to overexpression of p53. R box-dependent repression requires p21/waf1, and overexpression of p21/waf1 also represses the cdc2 promoter. These observations suggest that p53 represses the cdc2 promoter by inducing p21/waf1, which inhibits cyclin-dependent kinase activity, enhancing the binding of p130 and E2F4, which together bind to and repress the cdc2 promoter.
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