Regulation of an endogenous locus using a panel of designed zinc finger proteins targeted to accessible chromatin regions. Activation of vascular endothelial growth factor A - PubMed (original) (raw)

. 2001 Apr 6;276(14):11323-34.

doi: 10.1074/jbc.M011172200. Epub 2001 Jan 5.

E J Rebar, L Zhang, Q Liu, A C Jamieson, Y Liang, H Qi, P X Li, B Chen, M C Mendel, X Zhong, Y L Lee, S P Eisenberg, S K Spratt, C C Case, A P Wolffe

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Regulation of an endogenous locus using a panel of designed zinc finger proteins targeted to accessible chromatin regions. Activation of vascular endothelial growth factor A

P Q Liu et al. J Biol Chem. 2001.

Free article

Abstract

We have mapped conserved regions of enhanced DNase I accessibility within the endogenous chromosomal locus of vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF-A). Synthetic zinc finger protein (ZFP) transcription factors were designed to target DNA sequences contained within the DNase I-hypersensitive regions. These ZFPs, when fused to either VP16 or p65 transcriptional activation domains, were able to activate expression of the VEGF-A gene as assayed by mRNA accumulation and VEGF-A protein secretion through a range exceeding that induced by hypoxic stress. Importantly, multiple splice variants of VEGF-A mRNA with defined physiological functions were induced by a single engineered ZFP transcription factor. We present evidence for an enhanced activation of VEGF-A gene transcription by ZFP transcription factors fused to VP16 and p65 targeted to two distinct chromosomal sites >500 base pairs upstream or downstream of the transcription start site. Our strategy provides a novel approach for dissecting the requirements for gene regulation at a distance without altering the DNA sequence of the endogenous target locus.

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