Zfp-37 is a member of the KRAB zinc finger gene family and is expressed in neurons of the developing and adult CNS

• Published in: Genomics (San Diego, Calif.) Vol. 33; no. 2; pp. 247 - 257
• Main Authors: MAZARAKIS, N, MICHALOVICH, D, KARIS, A, GROSVELD, F, GALJART, N
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: San Diego, CA Elsevier 15-04-1996
• Subjects: Amino Acid Sequence; Animals; Base Sequence; Biological and medical sciences; Brain - embryology; Brain - metabolism; Brain - pathology; Central Nervous System - metabolism; DNA, Complementary; DNA-Binding Proteins - genetics; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gene Expression; Genes. Genome; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Mice, Inbred CBA; Molecular and cellular biology; Molecular genetics; Molecular Sequence Data; Neurons - metabolism; Zinc Fingers - genetics; Nucleotide sequence; Zinc finger structure; Rodentia; Central nervous system; Homology; Gene organization; Gene expression; Proteins; Vertebrata; Mammalia; Neuron; Complementary DNA; Mouse; Development
• ISSN: 0888-7543; 1089-8646
• DOI: 10.1006/geno.1996.0189

The murine Zfp-37 gene encodes a protein with 12 zinc fingers at its C-terminus (Nelki et al., 1990, Nucleic Acids Res. 18: 3655; Burke and Wolgemuth, 1992, Nucleic Acids Res. 20: 2827-2834). Contrary to the published data, our Northern blot analysis demonstrates not only that the Zfp-37 gene is expressed as 2.3, 2.6, and 4.2 kb mRNAs in testis, but also that there is a 3.7-kb message in the adult mouse brain. Using a partial cDNA as a probe, we have isolated a brain-specific Zfp-37 cDNA clone of 3.3 kb, whose sequence was extended to full length using 5' end RACE. This revealed that the 3.7-kb mRNA is in fact a collection of transcripts with heterogenous 5' ends. Comparison of cDNA and genomic sequences shows that the Zfp-37 gene is spread over a region of approximately 20 kb and consists of six exons, the large 3' end exon containing the complete zinc finger domain, and 3' UTR. Our data show that the Zfp-37 gene utilizes different promoters, alternative splicing, and differential polyadenylation to generate the distinct transcripts of brain and testis. Several protein isoforms are encoded by these mRNAs, some of which contain a truncated form of a conserved domain (Krüppel-associated box) found in other zinc finger genes. In situ hybridization analysis of postnatal brain sections indicates that the Zfp-37 gene is expressed in all neurons of the central nervous system. Together, these results suggest that ZFP-37 is a transcriptional regulator predominantly present in postmitotic cells from two different lineages.