Zinc Finger Protein 431 (ZNF431)

ZNF431 is a nuclear transcriptional repressor whose repressive activity depends on its association with HDAC1 and 2. Promoter analyses revealed three ZNF431 binding sites which bind to ZNF431 both in vitro and in vivo as revealed by both gel-shift and chromatin immunoprecipitation, respectively. Mutations of these three sites abolished ZNF431 repression in transient transfection assays. Moreover, overexpressing ZNF431 in MPLB cells or in Xenopus and mouse embryos strongly repressed Patched1 expression. On the other hand, shRNA knockdown of ZNF431 in MPLB cells elevated Patched1 expression. Finally, hedgehog signaling readout was reduced in ZNF431 overexpression but elevated in ZNF431 knockdown MPLB cells. ZNF431 directly represses Patched1 expression and likely functions to repress the hedgehog response in cells.