DEVELOPMENTALLY-REGULATED MOUSE GENE NK10 ENCODES A ZINC-FINGER REPRESSOR PROTEIN WITH DIFFERENTIAL DNA-BINDING DOMAINS

Using oligonucleotides complementary to the conserved inter-finger reg ion of a variety of previously described zinc finger-encoding genes, a novel mouse gene was cloned and characterized. The gene is localized on chromosome 8 and comprises five exons. Its corresponding mRNA is de velopmentally regulated in various tissues and includes an open readin g frame encoding a protein of 72,422 daltons. It shares amino-terminal homologies with human KRAB (or FPB) boxes, and contains 13 zinc finge rs of the C-2-H-2 type. The NK10 KRAB domains exhibit repressing activ ity when tested in GAL4 fusion protein assays. Cloning of putative tar get sequences revealed that the individual domains differentially cont ribute to zinc-dependent target DNA binding.