Genome-wide studies of the transcriptional regulation by p53

The tumor suppressor p53 is arguably the most important transcription factor that safe-guards the genome. Although it is clear that the transcriptional activity of p53 is required for its tumor suppressive function, the underlying mechanisms are still largely unknown. In the past several years, genome-wide approaches have provided novel insights into the tumor suppressive functions of p53. This mini-review summarizes recent progress in studying these functions using genome-wide approaches, and offers some perspectives on this rapidly expanding field. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Chromatin in time and space.

► Mechanisms underlying the tumor suppressive functions of p53 are still unclear. ► Binding of p53 at non-promoter regions is not fully understood. ► Dissection of p53 regulated transcriptome is challenging. ► Non-coding RNAs join the family of p53 targets. ► Epigenetic regulation of chromatin binding of p53 has not been fully explored.