The replication inhibition activity of the WT1 tumor suppressor protein resides in its N-terminal 298 amino acid region, and does not require specific binding of the protein to the replication origin sequence.

Using the simian virus 40 replication origin as the model, it was reported previously that the Wilms' tumor suppressor protein WT1 can inhibit DNA replication. In the present study, we found that a hybrid protein (termed GAL4-WT1AE Z) consisting of the DNA-binding domain of the yeast transcription factor GAL4 fused in-frame with the N-terminal 298 amino acid (aa) transcriptional regulatory region of WT1 retained the ability to inhibit replication. The hybrid protein and the full-length WT1 inhibited replication without regard to the presence or absence of their binding sites in the replication origin region, indicating that inhibition of replication by the proteins does not require their specific binding to the origin region. The inhibition efficiency of the hybrid protein was the same as that of WT1, indicating that the replication inhibition activity resides in the N-terminal 298 aa region, and that the C-terminal zinc finger-containing DNA-binding domain of WT1 is functionally dispensable for this effect.