Artificial transcription factor

An artificial transcription factor is an example of a chimeral protein, designed to target and modulate gene transcription (Gommans et. al., 2005).

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.

References

Gommans, W. M., H. J. Haisma and M. G. Rots (2005). "Engineering zinc finger protein transcription factors: the therapeutic relevance of switching endogenous gene expression on or off at command." Journal of Molecular Biology 354(3): 507-19.

See also

Therapeutic gene modulation Zinc finger protein transcription factor Chimera (protein) Protein engineering