Involvement of PIAS1 in the sumoylation of tumor suppressor p53

Sumoylation of p53 by the ubiquitin-like protein, SUMO-1/ sentrin/PIC1, has been shown to stimulate its transcriptional activation activity. The SUMO E3 ligase, a key enzyme in the recognition of substrates to be sumoylated, has not yet been identified. We isolated PIAS1 (protein inhibitor of activated STAT1) as a SUMO-1 binding protein by yeast two-hybrid screening. In addition, PIAS1 bound p53 and Ubc9, the E2 for SUMO. PIAS1 that was mutated in the RING finger-like domain bound p53 and SUMO-1, but not Ubc9. PIAS1 catalyzed the sumoylation of p53 both in U2OS cells and in vitro in a domain-dependent manner. These data suggest that PIAS1 functions as a SUMO ligase, or possibly as a tightly bound regulator of it, toward p53.