Polstein LR, Gersbach CA. Light-inducible spatiotemporal control of gene activation by customizable zinc finger transcription factors.
J Am Chem Soc 2012;
134:16480-3. [PMID:
22963237 PMCID:
PMC3468123 DOI:
10.1021/ja3065667]
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Abstract
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Advanced gene regulatory systems are necessary for scientific
research,
synthetic biology, and gene-based medicine. An ideal system would
allow facile spatiotemporal manipulation of gene expression within
a cell population that is tunable, reversible, repeatable, and can
be targeted to diverse DNA sequences. To meet these criteria, a gene
regulation system was engineered that combines light-sensitive proteins
and programmable zinc finger transcription factors. This system, light-inducible
transcription using engineered zinc finger proteins (LITEZ), uses
two light-inducible dimerizing proteins from Arabidopsis thaliana, GIGANTEA and the LOV domain of FKF1, to control synthetic zinc
finger transcription factor activity in human cells. Activation of
gene expression in human cells engineered with LITEZ was reversible
and repeatable by modulating the duration of illumination. The level
of gene expression could also be controlled by modulating light intensity.
Finally, gene expression could be activated in a spatially defined
pattern by illuminating the human cell culture through a photomask
of arbitrary geometry. LITEZ enables new approaches for precisely
regulating gene expression in biotechnology and medicine, as well
as studying gene function, cell–cell interactions, and tissue
morphogenesis.
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