The tumor suppressor p53 plays a central role in the regulation of cellular growth and apoptosis. In the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the over-expression of the human p53 leads to growth inhibition and apoptotic cell death on minimal medium. In the present work, we show that p53 expressing cells are more susceptible to cell death after an apoptotic stimulus such as H2 O2 . The analysis of mutants involved in yeast apoptosis-like death suggests that the observed cell death is Yca1-independent and mainly mediated through Nuc1p. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.