Studies on a KRAB zinc finger gene, highly expressed in the human testis

从精原细胞瘤基因文库中克隆了6个Kruppe1型锌指(ZF)基因。其中一株ZFS-1与ZNF91 KRAB(Kruppe1相关盒)ZF基因家族具有高度的序列同源性和相同的染色体分配。有趣的是，Nortern印迹分析表明，19号染色体上的多个ZF基因主要在精原细胞瘤和成人正常睾丸中表达，此外，睾丸和精原细胞瘤中有2.3kb的独特表达，被认为是生殖细胞特异性锌指基因的存在。然后，以ZFS-1为探针，从成人睾丸文库中克隆了睾丸特异性锌指基因TSF。序列分析表明，该2371个碱基对的基因编码597个氨基酸，在N端和C端分别具有KRAB结构域、锌指结构域，提示TSF基因是ZNF91家族的成员，可能参与生殖细胞和精原细胞瘤的发育和/或生长。

Six Kruppe1-type zinc finger (ZF) genes were cloned from a seminoma cDNAlibrary. One, ZFS-1, showed highly sequence homology to the ZNF91 KRAB (Kruppe1-associated box) ZF gene family and also the same chromosomal assignment. Interestingly, Nortern blot analysis revealed that multiple ZF genes on chromosome 19 were predominantly expressed in seminoma and adult normal human testis, In addition, the testis and the seminoma showed a unique expression of 2.3 kb transcript that was thought to be an existence of germ cell specific zinc finger gene. Then, using ZFS-1 as a probe TSF (Testis specific zinc finger gene) was cloned from a human adult testis library. Sequence analysis demonstrated this 2371 base-paired gene codes 597 amino acids and have a KRAB domain, a Zinc finger domain in the N-terminal and C-terminal, respectively.Our results suggest that TSF gene is a member of the ZNF91 family and may be imlicated in the development and/or growth of germ cell and seminoma.