Functional Role of a Conserved Sequence Motif in the Oxygen-dependent Degradation Domain of Hypoxia-inducible Factor 1α in the Recognition of p53

Hypoxia-inducible factor $1{\alpha}\;(HIF1{\alpha})$ is a transcription factor that plays a key role in the adaptation of cells to low oxygen stress and oxygen homeostasis. The oxygen-dependent degradation (ODD) domain of $HIF1{\alpha}$ is responsible for the negative regulation of $HIF1{\alpha}$ in normoxia. The interactions of the $HIF1{\alpha}$ ODD domain with partner proteins such as von Hippel-Lindau tumor suppressor (pVHL) and p53 are mediated by two sequence motifs, the N- and C-terminal ODD(NODD and CODD). Multiple sequence alignment with $HIF1{\alpha}$ homologs from human, monkey, pig, rat, mouse, chicken, frog, and zebrafish has demonstrated that the NODD and CODD motifs have noticeably high conservation of the primary sequence across different species and isoforms. In this study, we carried out molecular dynamics simulation of the structure of the $HIF1{\alpha}$ CODD motif in complex with the p53 DNA-binding domain (DBD). The structure reveals specific functional roles of highly conserved residues in the CODD sequence motif of $HIF1{\alpha}$ for the recognition of p53.