The artificial zinc finger protein ‘Blues’ binds the enhancer of the fibroblast growth factor 4 and represses transcription

• Published in: FEBS letters 2004-02, Vol.560 (1), p.75-80
• Main Authors: Libri, V, Onori, A, Fanciulli, M, Passananti, C, Corbi, N
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Amino Acid Sequence; Animals; Artificial transcription factor; Base Sequence; Binding Sites; Cell Line, Tumor; DNA-Binding Proteins - chemistry; DNA-Binding Proteins - genetics; DNA-Binding Proteins - metabolism; Enhancer Elements, Genetic; Escherichia coli - genetics; Fibroblast Growth Factor 4; Fibroblast Growth Factors - genetics; Fibroblast Growth Factors - metabolism; Gene Expression Regulation; Glutathione Transferase - metabolism; Mice; Molecular Sequence Data; NIH 3T3 Cells; Oncogene; Protein Binding; Protein Structure, Secondary; Protein Structure, Tertiary; Proto-Oncogene Proteins - genetics; Proto-Oncogene Proteins - metabolism; Recognition code; Recombinant Fusion Proteins - metabolism; Substrate Specificity; Teratocarcinoma; Transcription Factors - chemistry; Transcription Factors - genetics; Transcription Factors - metabolism; Transcription, Genetic; Zinc finger; Zinc Fingers - genetics
• ISSN: 0014-5793; 1873-3468
• DOI: 10.1016/S0014-5793(04)00075-4

The design of novel genes encoding artificial transcription factors represents a powerful tool in biotechnology and medicine. We have engineered a new zinc finger-based transcription factor, named Blues, able to bind and possibly to modify the expression of fibroblast growth factor 4 (FGF-4, K-fgf), originally identified as an oncogene. Blues encodes a three zinc finger peptide and was constructed to target the 9 bp DNA sequence: 5′-GTT-TGG-ATG-3′, internal to the murine FGF-4 enhancer, in proximity of Sox-2 and Oct-3 DNA binding sites. Our final aim is to generate a model system based on artificial zinc finger genes to study the biological role of FGF-4 during development and tumorigenesis.