Question

which bioinformatics Database is best to provide explicit information in studying p53 alternative splicing and formaron of different isoforms?

Answer 1

Splicing variants of the human and mouse TP53 gene have been described in the eighties,but the existence and significance of these variants has been recognized 20 years later. The p53 gene family consists of the three genes p53, p63 and p73, which have polyhedral non-overlapping functions in pivotal cellular processes such as DNA synthesis.

The p53 human isoforms have been characterized that are produced by alternative splicing, use of alternative translation site or alternative promoter .Most of these isoforms share a common DNA-binding domain with three different N-terminal domains (TA: entire transactivation domain; delta40: deleted from the first 39 residues; delta133: deleted from the first 132 residues) and/or three different C-terminal domains (alpha: entire oligomerisation domain; beta: 10 additional residues; gamma: 15 additional residues).

The best databases to refer P53 information are IARC TP53 Database and p53FamTaG database.

1)In the IARC TP53 Database, all annotations and data are in relation to the full-lenght protein (TA isoform). New annotations have been introduced on the predicted impact of TP53 gene mutations on the protein status of the different isoforms.

2)p53FamTaG database (p53 FAMily TArget Genes), a modular relational database, which contains p53 family direct target genes selected in the human genome searching for the presence of the REs and the expression profile of these target genes obtained by microarray experiments.