SIMIAN-VIRUS-40 T-ANTIGEN CAN REGULATE P53-MEDIATED TRANSCRIPTION INDEPENDENT OF BINDING P53

A simian virus 40 (SV40) T-antigen mutant containing only the N-termin al 136 amino acids, able to bind to Rb and p300 but not p53, partially inhibited p53-mediated transcription without affecting the ability of p53 to bind DNA. These results suggest that SV40 T antigen can regula te p53-mediated transcription either directly through protein-protein association or indirectly through interaction with factors which may f unction to confer p53-mediated transcription.