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p53, the tumour suppressor and transcriptional activator, is regulated by numerous post-translational modifications, including lysine methylation. Histone lysine methylation has recently been shown to be reversible; however, it is not known whether non-histone proteins are substrates for demethylation. Here we show that, in human cells, the histone lysine-specific demethylase LSD1 (refs 3, 4) interacts with p53 to repress p53-mediated transcriptional activation and to inhibit the role of p53 in promoting apoptosis. We find that, in vitro, LSD1 removes both monomethylation (K370me1) and dimethylation (K370me2) at K370, a previously identified Smyd2-dependent monomethylation site. However, in vivo, LSD1 shows a strong preference to reverse K370me2, which is performed by a distinct, but unknown, methyltransferase. Our results indicate that K370me2 has a different role in regulating p53 from that of K370me1: K370me1 represses p53 function, whereas K370me2 promotes association with the coactivator 53BP1 (p53-binding protein 1) through tandem Tudor domains in 53BP1. Further, LSD1 represses p53 function through the inhibition of interaction of p53 with 53BP1. These observations show that p53 is dynamically regulated by lysine methylation and demethylation and that the methylation status at a single lysine residue confers distinct regulatory output. Lysine methylation therefore provides similar regulatory complexity for non-histone proteins and for histones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Specific sites of lysine methylation on histones correlate with either activation or repression of transcription. The tumour suppressor p53 (refs 4–7) is one of only a few non-histone proteins known to be regulated by lysine methylation. Here we report a lysine methyltransferase, Smyd2, that methylates a previously unidentified site, Lys 370, in p53. This methylation site, in contrast to the known site Lys 372, is repressing to p53-mediated transcriptional regulation. Smyd2 helps to maintain low concentrations of promoter-associated p53. We show that reducing Smyd2 concentrations by short interfering RNA enhances p53-mediated apoptosis. We find that Set9-mediated methylation of Lys 372 inhibits Smyd2-mediated methylation of Lys 370, providing regulatory cross-talk between post-translational modifications. In addition, we show that the inhibitory effect of Lys 372 methylation on Lys 370 methylation is caused, in part, by blocking the interaction between p53 and Smyd2. Thus, similar to histones, p53 is subject to both activating and repressing lysine methylation. Our results also predict that Smyd2 may function as a putative oncogene by methylating p53 and repressing its tumour suppressive function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]