Targeted transcriptional activation of silent oct4 pluripotency gene by combining designer TALEs and inhibition of epigenetic modifiers.

ABSTRACT: Specific control of gene activity is a valuable tool to study and engineer cellular functions. Recent studies uncovered the potential of transcription activator-like effector (TALE) proteins that can be tailored to activate user-defined target genes. It remains however unclear whether and how epigenetic modifications interfere with TALE-mediated transcriptional activation. We studied the activity of five designer TALEs (dTALEs) targeting the oct4 pluripotency gene. In vitro assays showed that the five dTALEs that target distinct sites in the oct4 promoter had the expected DNA specificity and comparable affinities to their corresponding DNA targets. In contrast to their similar in vitro properties, transcriptional activation of oct4 by these distinct dTALEs varied up to 25-fold. While dTALE

SUBMITTER: Bultmann S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3384321 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature