Transcripts from a novel human KRAB zinc finger gene contain spliced Alu and endogenous retroviral segments
- Univ. of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada)
During the course of an investigation into the potential effects of endogenous retroviruses on adjacent gene expression, we isolated two cDNA clones containing a small sequence segment belonging to the human endogenous retrovirus family, HERV-H. Characterization of the clones revealed that they represent transcripts from a novel KRAB zinc finger gene termed ZNF177. The two cDNA clones differ at their 5{prime} termini and in the presence of a 559-bp internal exon. The clone containing this internal exon has six imperfect zinc finger motifs followed by seven perfect copies of the C{sub 2}H{sub 2} type but has a frame shift between the KRAB domain and the downstream zinc finger region. The smaller clone lacks the six imperfect motifs and has an intact ORF. The 5{prime} putative untranslated regions of both cDNAs contain an 86-bp HERV-H env segment and a segment of an Alu repeat, both in the antisense orientation, that have been incorporated by splicing. RT-PCR experiments show evidence of alternative splicing but the majority of transcripts appear to contain the Alu and env segments. Genomic PCR and hybridization experiments suggest that a partial HERV-H element is integrated within the ZNF177 locus, which Southern analysis has shown to be a single-copy gene. Northern and RT-PCR analyses suggest that ZNF177 is transcribed at a low level in a variety of cell types. 41 refs., 8 figs.
- OSTI ID:
- 466662
- Journal Information:
- Genomics, Vol. 33, Issue 3; Other Information: PBD: 1 May 1996
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Zfp-37 is a member of the KRAB zinc finger gene family and is expressed in neurons of the developing and adult CNS
A Comprehensive Catalog of Human KRAB-associated Zinc Finger Genes: Insights into the Evolutionary History of a Large Family of Transcriptional Repressors