title: The artificial 4-zinc-finger protein Bagly binds human utrophin promoter A at the endogenous chromosomal site and activates transcription.
abstract: Our aim is to upregulate the expression of the dystrophin-related gene utrophin in Duchenne muscular dystrophy, in this way complementing the lack of dystrophin function. To achieve utrophin upregulation, we designed and engineered synthetic zinc-finger based transcription factors. We have previously shown that the artificial 3-zinc-finger protein Jazz, fused with the appropriate effector domain, is able to drive the transcription of a test gene from utrophin promoter A. Here we report a novel artificial 4-zinc-finger protein, Bagly, which binds with optimized affinity-specificity to a 12 bp DNA target sequence that is internal to human utrophin promoter A. Bagly was generated adding to Jazz protein an extra-fourth zinc finger, derived from transcription factor YY1. Importantly, the Bagly DNA target sequence is statistically present in the human genome only 210 times, about 60 fewer times than the 9 bp Jazz DNA target sequence. Thanks to its additional zinc-finger domain, Bagly protein shows enhanced transcriptional activity. Moreover, we demonstrated Bagly's effective access and binding to active chromatin in the chromosomal context and its ability to upregulate endogenous utrophin.
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Biologia e Patologia Molecolari, CNR, c/o Regina Elena Cancer Institute, Via delle Messi d'Oro 156, 00158 Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Annalisa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Onori
authors.forename: Agata
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Desantis
authors.forename: Serena
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Buontempo
authors.forename: Maria Grazia
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Di Certo
authors.forename: Maurizio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fanciulli
authors.forename: Luisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Salvatori
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Passananti
authors.forename: Nicoletta
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Corbi
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001483:Base Sequence; D001665:Binding Sites / Q000235:genetics; D015342:DNA Probes / Q000235:genetics; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D011485:Protein Binding; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D015533:Transcriptional Activation; D014162:Transfection; D049411:Utrophin / Q000235:genetics*; D016335:Zinc Fingers
chemical_list: D015342:DNA Probes; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; C483599:UTRN protein, human; D049411:Utrophin