Functional characterization of iron-substituted neural zinc finger factor 1: metal and DNA binding.

Neural zinc finger factor 1 (NZF-1) is a nonclassical zinc finger protein involved in neuronal development. NZF-1 contains multiple copies of a unique CCHHC zinc-binding domain that recognize a promoter element in the beta-retinoic acid receptor gene termed beta-retinoic acid receptor element (beta-RARE). Previous studies have established that a two-domain fragment of NZF-1 bound with zinc is sufficient for specific DNA binding.