title: A house fly gene homologous to the zinc finger proto-oncogene Gfi-1.
abstract: Gfi-1 was first cloned from rats (and subsequently from mice, chickens, and humans) and was found to be a 55-kDa protein that bound to DNA in a sequence-specific manner to act as a transcriptional repressor and proto-oncogene. Using PCR, a Gfi-1 homologous cDNA (mdGfi-1) was cloned from the house fly, Musca domestica. Comparison of the mdGfi-1-deduced amino acid sequence with those of vertebrates indicates only moderate overall homology (40.9-43.0% identity). However, these proteins are highly conserved when the zinc finger domains are compared, with mdGfi-1 having 81.0-82.2% identity to the vertebrate homologues. Within each of the six zinc finger domains there are three amino acids that are predicted to contact the DNA and these amino acids are 100% identical for all six domains for all species. Given that Gfi-1 is highly conserved from insects to vertebrates suggests this may be an important transcription factor in many taxa.
authors.affiliation: Department of Entomology, Comstock Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, 14853-0901, USA.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kasai
authors.forename: J G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Scott
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D017931:DNA Primers / Q000235:genetics; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000235:genetics; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D017344:Genes, Insect; D006793:Houseflies / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D000090063:Proto-Oncogene Mas; D011519:Proto-Oncogenes; D051381:Rats; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D014157:Transcription Factors; D016335:Zinc Fingers / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; C498275:GFI1 protein, human; C079873:Gfi1 protein, mouse; C498276:Gfi1 protein, rat; C000715470:MAS1 protein, human; D000090063:Proto-Oncogene Mas; D014157:Transcription Factors