Document Type

Article

Publication Date

11-1-2016

Abstract

© 2016 He et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Peg3 (Paternally Expressed Gene 3) is an imprinted gene that encodes a zinc finger DNAbinding protein. Peg3 itself is localized in the middle of a KRAB-A (Kruppel-Associated Box) zinc finger gene cluster. The amino acid sequence encoded by its exon 7 also shows sequence similarity to that of KRAB-A, suggesting Peg3 as a KRAB-containing zinc finger gene. As predicted, the PEG3 protein was co-immunoprecipitated with KAP1, a co-repressor that interacts with KRAB-A. A series of follow-up experiments further demonstrated that the exon 7 of PEG3 is indeed responsible for its physical interaction with KAP1. ChIP and promoter assays also indicated that PEG3 likely controls its downstream genes through the KAP1-mediated repression mechanism. Overall, the current study identifies PEG3 as a KRAB-containing zinc finger protein that interacts with the co-repressor protein KAP1.

Publication Source (Journal or Book title)

PLoS ONE

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