Involvement of the transcriptional factor E2F1 in the regulation of the rRNA promoter

p16INK4a-pRB-E2F and ARF-MDM2-p53 are two major tumor suppressor networks involved in cell proliferation control. The nucleolar ARF protein binds to MDM2 to activate the growth suppressive functions of p53, but can also exert its tumor suppressor activity independently of p53, through mechanisms involving other regulators: in that manner, p14ARF has been shown to inhibit the transcriptional activity of E2F1 in vitro, suggesting that the two pathways intersect with one another. More recently, ARF has been shown to inhibit ribosomal RNA processing, and to specifically interact with the rRNA promoter, suggesting a role in the regulation of both maturation and transcription processes. We show here that E2F1 can bind the rRNA promoter and modulate its activity through the interaction with two E2F1-binding sequences we have identified. The regulation of ribosome biogenesis appears as a major p53-independent process, which involves both ARF and E2F1 to control cell proliferation.