A Kinase-Independent Role for Cyclin-Dependent Kinase 19 in p53 Response

The human Mediator complex regulates RNA polymerase II transcription genome-wide. A general factor that regulates Mediator function is the four-subunit kinase module, which contains either cyclin-dependent kinase 8 (CDK8) or CDK19. Whereas CDK8 is linked to specific signaling cascades and oncogenesis, the cellular roles of its paralog, CDK19, are poorly studied. We discovered that osteosarcoma cells (SJSA) are naturally depleted of CDK8 protein. Whereas stable CDK19 knockdown was tolerated in SJSA cells, proliferation was reduced. Notably, proliferation defects were rescued upon the reexpression of wild-type or kinase-dead CDK19. Comparative RNA sequencing analyses showed reduced expression of mitotic genes and activation of genes associated with cholesterol metabolism and the p53 pathway in CDK19 knockdown cells. SJSA cells treated with 5-fluorouracil, which induces metabolic and genotoxic stress and activates p53, further implicated CDK19 in p53 target gene expression. To better probe the p53 response, SJSA cells (shCDK19 versus shCTRL) were treated with the p53 activator nutlin-3. Remarkably, CDK19 was required for SJSA cells to return to a proliferative state after nutlin-3 treatment, and this effect was kinase independent. These results implicate CDK19 as a regulator of p53 stress responses and suggest a role for CDK19 in cellular resistance to nutlin-3.