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Drosophila Krüppel protein is a transcriptional represser

Nature volume 346, pages 76–79 (1990)Cite this article

Abstract

KRÜPPEL (Kr), one of the zygotically active Drosophila segmentation genes, is expressed in a restricted domain during the blastoderm stage of embryogenesis and is involved in the control of development of the thoracic and abdominal segments of the fly1. Kr encodes a polypeptide containing DNA-binding zinc-finger motifs2, disruptions of which yield Kr mutants3,4. We have assayed the transcriptional activities of wild-type Kr protein as well as Lac repressor/Kr fusion proteins in HeLa and CV-1 cells. Wild-type Kr and a Lac–Kr chimaeric protein repressed transcription from reporter promoters in which a consensus Kr binding site derived from sequences within the even-skipped promoter5 had been inserted in an upstream position. We mapped the repression function of Kr to an alanine-rich amino-terminal region of the protein, as a Lac/Kr fusion protein containing only amino acids 26–110 of Kr repressed transcription from a reporter promoter containing upstream lac operators. This demonstrates that the DNA-binding and repression activities of the Kr protein are distinct. These data are consistent with genetic evidence that Kr represses even-skipped6,7 and hunchback8 expression, and suggest that Kr is a negative regulator of transcription in Drosophila.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Eukaryotic Transcription, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, 44 Binney Street, Boston, Massachusetts, 02115, USA

    Jonathan D. Licht, Martha J. Grossel & Ulla M. Hansen

  2. Laboratory of Neoplastic Disease Mechanisms, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, 44 Binney Street, Boston, Massachusetts, 02115, USA

    James Figge

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  1. Jonathan D. Licht
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  2. Martha J. Grossel
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  3. James Figge
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  4. Ulla M. Hansen
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Licht, J., Grossel, M., Figge, J. et al. Drosophila Krüppel protein is a transcriptional represser. Nature 346, 76–79 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1038/346076a0

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