title: Identification and characterization of a novel zinc finger protein (HZF1) gene and its function in erythroid and megakaryocytic differentiation of K562 cells.
abstract: A novel zinc finger protein (HZF1) gene was identified and characterized by screening a human bone marrow cDNA library, using a new expression sequence tag probe that contains sequences encoding zinc finger motifs. There are at least three transcripts that may result from different splicing of the pre-mRNA, but the differences among them are only involved in 5' non-translation region of HZF1 mRNA. HZF1 gene contains four exons and three introns. The putative protein consists of 670 amino-acid residues including 15 typical C2H2 and 2 C2RH zinc finger motifs. This structure characterization of HZF1 and the nuclear location of the protein suggest that HZF1 may function as a transcription factor. HZF1 mRNA expression was detected in ubiquitous tissues and various hematopoietic cell lines. Increased HZF1 mRNA expression was observed following erythroid differentiation of K562 cells induced by hemin or megakaryocytic differentiation of K562 cells induced by phorbol myristate acetate (PMA). Both of the antisense method and RNA interference assay revealed that repression of the intrinsic expression of HZF1 blocked the hemin-induced erythroid differentiation and reduced the PMA-induced megakaryocytic differentiation of K562 cells, which suggested that HZF1 play important roles in erythroid and megakaryocytic differentiation.
authors.affiliation: National Laboratory of Medical Molecular Biology, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.forename: Z-W
authors.initials: ZW
authors.lastname: Du
authors.forename: J-W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000187:drug effects; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000187:drug effects; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000235:genetics; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology*; D015672:Erythroid Precursor Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D005091:Exons; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D015723:Gene Library; D018922:HL-60 Cells; D006801:Humans; D007438:Introns; D020014:K562 Cells; D008533:Megakaryocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D041681:NIH 3T3 Cells; D016372:RNA, Antisense / Q000235:genetics / Q000494:pharmacology; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering / Q000235:genetics / Q000494:pharmacology; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
chemical_list: D018076:DNA, Complementary; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D016372:RNA, Antisense; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering; C514335:ZNF266 protein, human