¹H, ¹⁵N and ¹³C backbone resonance assignments of the acidic domain of the human MDMX protein

The human MDMX protein, also known as MDM4, plays a pivotal role in regulating the activity of the tumor suppressor protein p53 by restricting p53 transcriptional activity and stimulating the E3 ubiquitin ligase activity of another key regulatory protein, MDM2, to promote p53 degradation. MDMX is ubiquitously expressed in most tissue types and overexpression of MDMX has been implicated in many forms of cancer. MDMX has been shown to require an intact N-terminal p53-binding domain and C-terminal RING domain to exert inhibitory effects on p53. The presence of a tryptophan-rich sequence in the central acidic domain of MDMX has also been implicated in regulating the interaction between MDMX and p53, directly interacting with the p53 DNA-binding domain. To date, little structural information has been obtained for this acidic region of MDMX that encompasses the Trp-rich sequence. In order to gain insight into the structure and function of this region, we have carried out solution-state NMR spectroscopy studies utilizing the segment of MDMX spanning residues 181–300—with bounds specifically chosen through multiple sequence alignment—which encompasses nearly 25% of MDMX. Here, we report the ¹H, ¹⁵N and ¹³C backbone chemical shift assignments of the acidic domain of MDMX and show that it exhibits hallmarks of intrinsic disorder and localized variation in inferred secondary structure propensity.