Nucleolar dynamics are important for cellular stress response. We previously demonstrated that nucleolar stress induces nucleolar protein Myb-binding protein 1A (MYBBP1A) translocation from the nucleolus to the nucleoplasm and enhances p53 activity. However, the underlying molecular mechanism is understood to a lesser extent. Here we demonstrate that MYBBP1A interacts with lysine residues in the C-terminal regulatory domain region of p53. MYBBP1A specifically interacts with nonacetylated p53 and induces p53 acetylation. We propose that MYBBP1A dissociates from acetylated p53 because MYBBP1A did not interact with acetylated p53 and because MYBBP1A was not recruited to the p53 target promoter. Therefore, once p53 is acetylated, MYBBP1A dissociates from p53 and interacts with nonacetylated p53, which enables another cycle of p53 activation. Based on our observations, this MYBBP1A-p53 binding property can account for efficient p53-activation by MYBBP1A under nucleolar stress. Our results support the idea that MYBBP1A plays catalytic roles in p53 acetylation and activation. (C) 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.