SNAI1

SNAI1
Available structures PDB Ortholog search: PDBe RCSB List of PDB id codes 2Y48, 3W5K, 4QLI
Identifiers
Aliases	SNAI1, SLUGH2, SNA, SNAH, SNAIL, SNAIL1, dJ710H13.1, snail family zinc finger 1, snail family transcriptional repressor 1
External IDs	MGI: 98330 HomoloGene: 4363 GeneCards: SNAI1
Gene ontology Molecular function • sequence-specific DNA binding • DNA binding • RNA polymerase II regulatory region sequence-specific DNA binding • metal ion binding • kinase binding • protein binding • transcriptional repressor activity, RNA polymerase II transcription regulatory region sequence-specific binding • nucleic acid binding • transcriptional repressor activity, RNA polymerase II core promoter proximal region sequence-specific binding Cellular component • nucleus • cytoplasm Biological process • trophoblast giant cell differentiation • palate development • regulation of bicellular tight junction assembly • positive regulation of cell migration • regulation of transcription from RNA polymerase II promoter • epithelial to mesenchymal transition involved in endocardial cushion formation • negative regulation of intrinsic apoptotic signaling pathway in response to DNA damage • multicellular organism development • negative regulation of vitamin D biosynthetic process • positive regulation of transcription, DNA-templated • negative regulation of DNA damage response, signal transduction by p53 class mediator • osteoblast differentiation • negative regulation of cell differentiation involved in embryonic placenta development • cartilage morphogenesis • hair follicle morphogenesis • left/right pattern formation • mesoderm development • negative regulation of transcription, DNA-templated • cell migration • negative regulation of transcription from RNA polymerase II promoter • Notch signaling involved in heart development • positive regulation of epithelial to mesenchymal transition • mesoderm formation • epithelial to mesenchymal transition Sources:Amigo / QuickGO
RNA expression pattern
More reference expression data
Orthologs
Species	Human	Mouse
Entrez	6615	20613
Ensembl	ENSG00000124216	ENSMUSG00000042821
UniProt	O95863	Q02085
RefSeq (mRNA)	NM_005985	NM_011427
RefSeq (protein)	NP_005976.2	NP_035557.1
Location (UCSC)	Chr 20: 49.98 – 49.99 Mb	Chr 2: 167.54 – 167.54 Mb
PubMed search	[1]	[2]
Wikidata

Zinc finger protein SNAI1 (sometime referred to as Snail) is a protein that in humans is encoded by the SNAI1 gene.^[3][4] Snail is a family of transcription factors that promote the repression of the adhesion molecule E-cadherin to regulate epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) during embryonic development.

Function

The Drosophila embryonic protein SNAI1, commonly known as Snail, is a zinc finger transcriptional repressor which downregulates the expression of ectodermal genes within the mesoderm. The nuclear protein encoded by this gene is structurally similar to the Drosophila snail protein, and is also thought to be critical for mesoderm formation in the developing embryo. At least two variants of a similar processed pseudogene have been found on chromosome 2.^[4] SNAI1 zinc-fingers (ZF) binds to E-box, an E-cadherin promoter region,^[5] and represses the expression of the adhesion molecule, which induces the tightly bound epithelial cells to break loose from each other and migrate into the developing embryo to become mesenchymal cells. This process allows for the formation of the mesodermal layer in the developing embryo. Though SNAI1 is shown to repress expression of E-cadherin in epithelial cells, studies have shown homozygous mutant embryos are still able to form a mesodermal layer.^[6] However, the mesodermal layer present shows characteristics of epithelial cells and not mesenchymal cells (the mutant mesoderm cells exhibited a polarized state). Other studies show that mutation of specific ZFs contribute to a decrease in SNAI1 E-cadherin repression.^[5]

Clinical significance

Snail gene may show a role in recurrence of breast cancer by downregulating E-cadherin and inducing an epithelial to mesenchymal transition.^[7] The process of EMT is also noted as an important and noteworthy process in tumor growth, through the invasion and metastasis of tumor cells due to repression of E-cadherin adhesion molecules. Through knockout models, one study has shown the importance of SNAI1 in the growth of breast cancer cells.^[8] Knockout models showed significant reduction in cancer invasiveness and therefore can be used as a therapeutic measure for the treatment of breast cancer before chemotherapy treatment.^[8]

Interactions

SNAI1 has been shown to interact with CTDSPL,^[9] CTDSP1^[9] and CTDSP2.^[9]

References

Further reading