J. Aruga et al., THE MOUSE ZIC GENE FAMILY - HOMOLOGS OF THE DROSOPHILA PAIR-RULE GENEODD-PAIRED, The Journal of biological chemistry, 271(2), 1996, pp. 1043-1047
The mouse Zic gene, which encodes a zinc finger protein, is expressed
in the developing or matured central nervous system in a highly restri
cted manner. We identified two novel Zic-related genes (Zic2, Zic3) th
rough genomic and cDNA cloning. Both genes are highly similar to Zic(1
), especially in their zinc finger motif. A comparison of genomic orga
nization among the three Zic genes showed that they share common exon
intron boundaries and belong to the same gene family. Zic1, Zic2, and
Zic3 were determined to mouse chromosome 9, 14, and X using an intersp
ecific backcross panel. Northern blotting and ribonuclease protection
showed that Zic2 and Zic3 are expressed in a restricted manner in the
cerebellum at the adult stage. However, the temporal profile of the mR
NA expression in the developing cerebella differ in the three Zic gene
s. Furthermore, we found that the Drosophila pair-rule gene, odd-paire
d is highly homologous to the Zic gene family. The similarity was not
only the zinc finger motif, but also the exon-intron boundary was the
same as those of mouse Zic gene family. These findings suggest that th
e Zic gene family and Drosophila odd-paired are derived from a common
ancestral gene.