A NOVEL X-LINKED MEMBER OF THE HUMAN ZINC-FINGER PROTEIN GENE FAMILY - ISOLATION, MAPPING, AND EXPRESSION

We report the partial characterization of a novel putative zinc finger gene of the Kruppel-type (ZNF81), isolated from an X Chromosome (Chr) specific library. The pattern of segregation in human-hamster somatic cell hybrids of sequences homologous to the ZNF81 finger domain has e stablished that it resides within the Xp22.1-Xp11 region. ZNF81 repres ents yet another example, together with ZFX, ZNF41, and ZNF21, of memb ers of the zinc finger gene family residing within the short arm of th e human X Chr. Sequence analysis showed that ZNF81 may encode a polype ptide(s) containing tandem arrays of 12 canonical C2H2 zinc fingers of the Kruppel-type at the C-terminus. Northern analysis indicated that probes from the ZNF81 finger domain hybridize to polyadenylated transc ripts present in several cell lines, a result that supports the hypoth esis that it is an expressed, functional member of this multigene fami ly.