CLONING, CHROMOSOMAL LOCALIZATION, PHYSICAL MAPPING, AND GENOMIC CHARACTERIZATION OF HKR3

The Kruppel-type zinc finger proteins are members of a conserved famil y of transcription factors that are important in developmental regulat ion. Altered expression of several of these proteins has been implicat ed in human diseases, including cancer. We report the cloning, mapping , and characterization of the zinc finger gene Human Kruppel-Related 3 (HKR3). Genomic clones of HKR3 were isolated from a P1 library and lo calized to human chromosome subband 1p36.3 by human-rodent somatic cel l hybrid mapping and fluorescence in situ hybridization. The gene was physically mapped to within 40 kb of D1S214 by YAC content and long-ra nge restriction mapping. HKR3 spans 9.5 bb of genomic DNA and is conta ined in 11 exons. Sequencing defined each of the exon/intron splice si te junctions and identified a CpG island in the 5' region of the gene. HKRS is ubiquitously expressed in human tissues as at least two major transcripts, the shorter of which excludes a conserved finger-associa ted box and a putative acidic activation domain contained in the full- length transcript. HKR3 is a novel zinc finger gene that maps to a reg ion of the genome commonly rearranged or deleted in human cancers. (C) 1996 Academic Press, Inc.