Krüppel is a gap gene

Gap gene

A gap gene is a type of gene involved in the development of the segmented embryos of some arthropods. Gap genes are defined by the effect of a mutation in that gene, which causes the loss of contiguous body segments, resembling a gap in the normal body plan...

 originally described in Drosophila melanogaster

Drosophila melanogaster

Drosophila melanogaster is a species of Diptera, or the order of flies, in the family Drosophilidae. The species is known generally as the common fruit fly or vinegar fly. Starting from Charles W...

, which encodes a zinc finger

Zinc finger

Zinc fingers are small protein structural motifs that can coordinate one or more zinc ions to help stabilize their folds. They can be classified into several different structural families and typically function as interaction modules that bind DNA, RNA, proteins, or small molecules...

 transcription factor

Transcription factor

In molecular biology and genetics, a transcription factor is a protein that binds to specific DNA sequences, thereby controlling the flow of genetic information from DNA to mRNA...

 with four tandemly repeated zinc finger

Zinc finger

Zinc fingers are small protein structural motifs that can coordinate one or more zinc ions to help stabilize their folds. They can be classified into several different structural families and typically function as interaction modules that bind DNA, RNA, proteins, or small molecules...

 domains.

Krüppel means, literally, "cripple" in German, named for the crippled appearance of mutant larva. Krüppel regulates the expression of several other gap genes.

See also Kruppel-like factors

Kruppel-like factors

The Krüppel-like family of transcription factors , so named for their homology to the Drosophila melanogaster Krüppel protein, have been extensively studied for their roles in cell proliferation, differentiation and survival, especially in the context of cancer . All KLF family members are...

 which have been recently investigated in the heart but are well characterized for their role in carcinogenesis.

External links

• Diagram at Davidson College
  Davidson College
  Davidson College is a private liberal arts college in Davidson, North Carolina. The college has graduated 23 Rhodes Scholars and is consistently ranked in the top ten liberal arts colleges in the country by U.S. News and World Report magazine, although it has recently dropped to 11th in U.S. News...
  
  - a Drosophila embryo at the cellular blastoderm stage triple-labeled for three segmentation proteins including Krüppel (in blue) Hairy (green) and Giant (red).