Zinc finger protein SNAI1 (SNAI1)

Involved in induction of the epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT), formation and maintenance of embryonic mesoderm, growth arrest, survival and cell migration. Binds to 3 E-boxes of the E-cadherin/CDH1 gene promoter and to the promoters of CLDN7 and KRT8 and, in association with histone demethylase KDM1A which it recruits to the promoters, causes a decrease in dimethylated H3K4 amounts and represses transcription.

Throughout EMT, involved with LOXL2 in negatively regulating pericentromeric heterochromatin transcription (By similarity). SNAI1 recruits LOXL2 into pericentromeric regions to oxidize histone H3 and repress transcription which leads to release of heterochromatin component CBX5/HP1A, enabling chromatin reorganization and acquisition of mesenchymal traits (By similarity).