Artificial transcription factor

An artificial transcription factor (ATF) is an example of a chimeral protein, designed to target and modulate gene transcription.[1]

They are generally composed of a DNA-binding domain (specific to a certain sequence) coupled to a modulatory domain (which acts upon other transcription factors) in order to alter the expression of a particular gene. It is also possible to downregulate expression of a gene by targeting the 5' untranslated region with a DNA-binding domain that lacks a regulatory domain; this will reduce transcription simply by blocking RNA polymerase progression along the DNA template.

A library of ATFs has been created and used to induce pluripotency in mouse embryonic fibroblasts.[2]

See also

References
  1. Gommans W, Haisma H, Rots M (2005). "Engineering zinc finger protein transcription factors: the therapeutic relevance of switching endogenous gene expression on or off at command" (PDF). J. Mol. Biol. 354 (3): 507–19. doi:10.1016/j.jmb.2005.06.082. PMID 16253273.
  2. Eguchi, Asuka; Wleklinski, Matthew J.; et al. (2016). "Reprogramming cell fate with a genome-scale library of artificial transcription factors". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 113 (51): E8257–E8266. doi:10.1073/pnas.1611142114. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 5187731. PMID 27930301.


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