News tagged with p53

More reference expression data

p53 (also known as protein 53 or tumor protein 53), is a transcription factor which in humans is encoded by the TP53 gene. p53 is important in multicellular organisms, where it regulates the cell cycle and thus functions as a tumor suppressor that is involved in preventing cancer. As such, p53 has been described as "the guardian of the genome," "the guardian angel gene," and the "master watchman," referring to its role in conserving stability by preventing genome mutation.

The name p53 is in reference to its apparent molecular mass: it runs as a 53 kilodalton (kDa) protein on SDS-PAGE. But based on calculations from its amino acid residues, p53's mass is actually only 43.7kDa. This difference is due to the high number of proline residues in the protein which slow its migration on SDS-PAGE, thus making it appear heavier than it actually is. This effect is observed with p53 from a variety of species, including humans, rodents, frogs, and fish.