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. 1991 May 1;88(9):3608–3612. doi: 10.1073/pnas.88.9.3608

The evolutionarily conserved Krüppel-associated box domain defines a subfamily of eukaryotic multifingered proteins.

E J Bellefroid 1, D A Poncelet 1, P J Lecocq 1, O Revelant 1, J A Martial 1
PMCID: PMC51501  PMID: 2023909

Abstract

We have previously shown that the human genome includes hundreds of genes coding for putative factors related to the Krüppel zinc-finger protein, which regulates Drosophila segmentation. We report herein that about one-third of these genes code for proteins that share a very conserved region of about 75 amino acids in their N-terminal nonfinger portion. Homologous regions are found in a number of previously described finger proteins, including mouse Zfp-1 and Xenopus Xfin. We named this region the Krüppel-associated box (KRAB). This domain has the potential to form two amphipathic alpha-helices. Southern blot analysis of "zoo" blots suggests that the Krüppel-associated box is highly conserved during evolution. Northern blot analysis shows that these genes are expressed in most adult tissues and are down-regulated during in vitro terminal differentiation of human myeloid cells.

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