Silencing of RNA polymerases II and III-dependent transcription by the KRAB protein domain of KOX1, a Kruppel-type zinc finger factor

The so-called KRAB domain, which is present in about one third of the vertebrate Kruppel-type zinc finger factors, has previously been shown to inhibit transcription in cis when tethered to promoter regions, Here we analyze this effect with fusions of the KRAB domain derived from KOX1/ZNF10 zinc finger protein to the heterologous DNA binding domains of both LexA and GAL4 factors. In transfected human cells, repression of reporter gene transcription is observed not only from proximal promoter positions, but also when KRAB is tethered to DNA at a remote position more than 1,8 kb downstream of the initiation site of transcription. Furthermore, KRAB-mediated silencing over short and long distances is not restricted to RNA polymerase II, since transcription by RNA polymerase III is also repressed. However, transcription by RNA polymerase I and by phage T7 RNA polymerase in mammalian cells are not significantly influenced by the KRAB domain. These latter results may indicate that repression by the KRAB domain, at least under our assay conditions, involves specific inhibition of some component(s) of RNA polymerase II and III transcription, rather than inducing some gross physical alteration of template chromatin structure.