The YL-1 gene, encoding a novel nuclear protein with transcription factor-like features, has been isolated from the human chromosome 1q21, one of the regions supposedly carrying a transformation suppressor gene(s) for Kirsten sarcoma virus-transformed NIH3T3 (DT) cells. To test the suppressive activity of the YL-1 gene product, we forced the expression of human YL-1 cDNA in DT cells. The anchorage-independent growth (colony-forming ability in soft agar medium) was markedly suppressed in cells highly expressing the exogenous human YL-1 protein. Moreover, the soft agar clones, which were rarely originated from these cells, expressed reduced levels of exogenous YL-1 or none, with or without the loss/rearrangement of the introduced cDNA. In control experiments, cells carrying an introduced vector alone or an antisense-strand expression plasmid grew in soft agar as efficiently as parental DT cells. In contrast to the suppression of anchorage-independent growth, the forced expression of YL-1 did not effect the transformed phenotypes in adherent culture and tumorigenicity in nude mice. These findings not only indicated that the YL-1 protein functions as a transformation suppressor, but also suggest that it may be important for elucidating anchorage independence under separate genetic control from other transformed phenotypes.