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It is well established that p53 contacts DNA in a sequence-dependent manner in order to transactivate its myriad target genes. Yet little is known about how p53 interacts with its binding site/response element (RE) within such genes in vivo in the context of nucleosomal DNA. In this study we demonstrate that both distal (5') and proximal (3') p53 REs within the promoter of the p21 gene in unstressed HCT116 colon carcinoma cells are localized within a region of relatively high nucleosome occupancy. In the absence of cellular stress, p53 is prebound to both p21 REs within nucleosomal DNA in these cells. Treatment of cells with the DNA-damaging drug doxorubicin or the p53 stabilizing agent Nutlin-3, however, is accompanied by p53-dependent subsequent loss of nucleosomes associated with such p53 REs. We show that in vitro p53 can bind to mononucleosomal DNA containing the distal p21 RE, provided the binding site is not close to the diad center of the nucleosome. In line with this, our data indicate that the p53 distal RE within the p21 gene is located close to the end of the nucleosome. Thus, low- and high-resolution mapping of nucleosome boundaries around p53 REs within the p21 promoter have provided insight into the mechanism of p53 binding to its sites in cells and the consequent changes in nucleosome occupancy at such sites.

p53 binding to nucleosomes within the p21 promoter in vivo leads to nucleosome loss and transcriptional activation