Structure and expression of two members of the d4 gene family in mouse.

Abstract

The d4 family is a group of unique, evolutionarily conserved zinc finger proteins that are involved in the determination of cell fate. The first member of the d4 family, neuro-d4, was cloned as a neurospecific, developmentally regulated rat gene (Buchman et al. 1992). Multiple neuro-d4 mRNAs generated by alternative splicing give rise to a set of structurally unique proteins. The most characteristic feature of these proteins is a cysteine/histidine-rich C-terminal d4-domain, a double-paired finger motif that consists of two tandemly arranged PHD finger domains. PHD fingers (Cx2CxnCx2Cx4Hx2CxnCx2C) have some structural similarity to the LIM domain and RING fingers and are hallmarks of many transcription co-activators/repressors (Aasland et al. 1995; Saha et al. 1995). A single Kru¨ppel-type zinc finger was found in the N-terminal part of the neuro-d4 protein molecule, but some neurod4 proteins lack this finger along with a nuclear localization signal and a stretch of negatively charged amino acids. Studies of the gene structure and expression suggested that the neuro-d4 proteins are neurospecific nuclear factors, although some of these proteins could have cytoplasmic function(s) (Buchman et al. 1992).