title: Cloning and identification of a YY-1 homolog as a potential transcription factor from Pinctada fucata.
abstract: Biomineralization is an important and ubiquitous process in organisms. The shell formation of mollusks is a typical biomineral physical activity and is used as a canonical model in biomineralization research. Most recent studies focused on the identification of matrix proteins involved in shell formation; however, little is known about their transcriptional regulation mechanism, especially the transcription factors involved in shell formation. In this study, we identified a homolog of the YY-1 transcriptional factor from Pinctada fucata, named Pf-YY-1, and characterized its expression pattern and biological functions. Pf-YY-1 has a typical zinc finger motif highly similar to those in humans, mice, and other higher organisms, which indicated its DNA-binding capability and its function as a transcription factor. Pf-YY-1 is ubiquitously expressed in many tissues, but at a higher level in the mantle, which suggested a role in biomineralization. The expression pattern of Pf-YY-1 during pearl sac development was quite similar to, and was synchronized with, those of Prisilkin-39, ACCBP, and other genes involved in biomineralization, which also suggested its function in biomineralization.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Marine Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
authors.forename: Xiangnan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: Institute of Marine Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
authors.forename: Minzhang
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.affiliation: Institute of Marine Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
authors.forename: Liang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Xiang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Marine Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
authors.forename: Jingtan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Su
authors.affiliation: Chinese National Human Genome Center, Beijing 100084, China.
authors.forename: Yujuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Institute of Marine Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China; Protein Science Laboratory of the Ministry of Education, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China. Electronic address: lpxie@mail.tsinghua.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Liping
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.affiliation: Institute of Marine Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China; Protein Science Laboratory of the Ministry of Education, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China. Electronic address: rqzhang@mail.tsinghua.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Rongqing
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000235:genetics; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D057809:HEK293 Cells; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008903:Minerals / Q000378:metabolism; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D049911:Pinctada / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D050986:YY1 Transcription Factor / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D018076:DNA, Complementary; D008903:Minerals; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D050986:YY1 Transcription Factor
keywords: Biomineralization; Pearl sac development; Pinctada fucata; Transcription factor; YY-1