Open Access

Christian Osterburg, Volker Dötsch

• The p53 protein family is the most studied protein family of all. Sequence analysis and structure determination have revealed a high similarity of crucial domains between p53, p63 and p73. Functional studies, however, have shown a wide variety of different tasks in tumor suppression, quality control and development. Here we review the structure and organization of the individual domains of p63 and p73, the interaction of these domains in the context of full-length proteins and discuss the evolutionary origin of this protein family. FACTS: ● Distinct physiological roles/functions are performed by specific isoforms. ● The non-divided transactivation domain of p63 has a constitutively high activity while the transactivation domains of p53/p73 are divided into two subdomains that are regulated by phosphorylation. ● Mdm2 binds to all three family members but ubiquitinates only p53. ● TAp63α forms an autoinhibited dimeric state while all other vertebrate p53 family isoforms are constitutively tetrameric. ● The oligomerization domain of p63 and p73 contain an additional helix that is necessary for stabilizing the tetrameric states. During evolution this helix got lost independently in different phylogenetic branches, while the DNA binding domain became destabilized and the transactivation domain split into two subdomains. OPEN QUESTIONS: ● Is the autoinhibitory mechanism of mammalian TAp63α conserved in p53 proteins of invertebrates that have the same function of genomic quality control in germ cells? ● What is the physiological function of the p63/p73 SAM domains? ● Do the short isoforms of p63 and p73 have physiological functions? ● What are the roles of the N-terminal elongated TAp63 isoforms, TA* and GTA?