Figure 1

Schematic representation of the full-length p53 and the alternative splice form Δp53. (A) The mRNA structure of exons VI to X of the full-length p53 and the Δp53 isoform are shown. The removed sequence in Δp53 is located in parts of exon VII, in exon VIII, and in a fraction of exon IX. The alternative splice cassette junction sequence, represented twice in the full-length p53 and once in the alternative splice form, is indicated in red. (B) Structural organization of the full-length p53 and Δp53 and its functional domains. p53 protein domain classification and their locations along the protein according to Swiss-Prot/TrEMBL [12]. Subdomains of main structures are indicated with various colors. Red lines mark the part eliminated by the splicing process of Δp53 and covering aa 257 to 322 of the DNA-binding domain and the complete non-structured spacer region with bipartite nuclear localization signal.