Search results for "zinc finger"

ZBTB20 is crucial for the specification of a subset of callosal projection neurons and astrocytes in the mammalian neocortex

2021

ABSTRACT Neocortical progenitor cells generate subtypes of excitatory projection neurons in sequential order followed by the generation of astrocytes. The transcription factor zinc finger and BTB domain-containing protein 20 (ZBTB20) has been implicated in regulation of cell specification during neocortical development. Here, we show that ZBTB20 instructs the generation of a subset of callosal projections neurons in cortical layers II/III in mouse. Conditional deletion of Zbtb20 in cortical progenitors, and to a lesser degree in differentiating neurons, leads to an increase in the number of layer IV neurons at the expense of layer II/III neurons. Astrogliogenesis is also affected in the mut…

High expression of GLI1 is associated with better survival in advanced SCLC

2020

Aim Aberrant Sonic hedgehog (Shh) pathway signaling has been described in small cell lung cancer (SCLC), as well discrepancies, when analyzing expression of pathway components in SCLC cell lines vs tumor biopsies. Shh key component GLI1 was evaluated in advanced SCLC and data correlated with patient survival. Materials and methods GLI1 expression was analyzed by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction in pre-treatment fresh frozen tumor biopsies of 12 advanced SCLC patients and mRNA level of GLI1 was compared in short-term vs long-term survivor's samples (stratified by median survival, independent samples t-test). Results Expression of GLI1 mRNA was significantly higher in long-ter…

Correlation between EGFR Amplification and the Expression of MicroRNA-200c in Primary Glioblastoma Multiforme

2014

Extensive infiltration of the surrounding healthy brain tissue is a critical feature in glioblastoma. Several miRNAs have been related to gliomagenesis, some of them related with the EGFR pathway. We have evaluated whole-genome miRNA expression profiling associated with different EGFR amplification patterns, studied by fluorescence in situ hybridization in tissue microarrays, of 30 cases of primary glioblastoma multiforme, whose clinicopathological and immunohistochemical features have also been analyzed. MicroRNA-200c showed a very significant difference between tumors having or not EGFR amplification. This microRNA plays an important role in epithelial-mesenchymal transition, but its impl…

Clinical spectrum of eye malformations in four patients with Mowat-Wilson syndrome

2015

Mowat-Wilson syndrome (MWS) is a rare genetic syndrome characterized by a specific facial gestalt, intellectual deficiency, Hirschsprung disease and multiple congenital anomalies. Heterozygous mutations or deletions in the zinc finger E-box-binding homeobox2 gene (ZEB2) cause MWS. ZEB2 encodes for Smad-interacting protein 1, a transcriptional co-repressor involved in TGF-beta and BMP pathways and is strongly expressed in early stages of development in mice. Eye abnormalities have rarely been described in patients with this syndrome. Herein, we describe four patients (two males and two females; mean age 7 years) with MWS and eye malformations. Ocular anomalies included, iris/retinal coloboma…

Selective targeting of PARP-1 zinc finger recognition domains with Au(III) organometallics

2018

The binding of Au(iii) complexes to the zinc finger domain of the anticancer drug target PARP-1 was studied using a hyphenated mass spectrometry approach combined with quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) studies. Competition experiments were carried out, whereby each Au complex was exposed to two types of zinc fingers. Notably, the cyclometallated Au-C^N complex was identified as the most selective candidate to disrupt the PARP-1 zinc finger domain, forming distinct adducts compared to the coordination compound Auphen.

Cyclometalated Au(III) Complexes for Cysteine Arylation in Zinc Finger Protein Domains: Towards Controlled Reductive Elimination

2019

With the aim of exploiting the use of organometallic species for the efficient modification of proteins through C-atom transfer, the gold-mediated cysteine arylation through a reductive elimination process occurring from the reaction of cyclometalated AuIII C^N complexes with a zinc finger peptide (Cys2His2 type) is here reported. Among the four selected AuIII cyclometalated compounds, the [Au(CCON)Cl2] complex featuring the 2-benzoylpyridine (CCON) scaffold was identified as the most prone to reductive elimination and Cys arylation in buffered aqueous solution (pH 7.4) at 37 °C by high-resolution LC electrospray ionization mass spectrometry. DFT and quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (Q…

Conserved Structure and Promoter Sequence Similarity in the Mouse and Human Genes Encoding the Zinc Finger Factor BERF-1/BFCOL1/ZBP-89

2001

Abstract We have characterized the genomic structure of the mouse Zfp148 gene encoding Beta-Enolase Repressor Factor-1 (BERF-1), a Kruppel-like zinc finger protein involved in the transcriptional regulation of several genes, which is also termed ZBP-89, BFCOL1. The cloned Zfp148 gene spans 110 kb of genomic DNA encompassing the 5′-end region, 9 exons, 8 introns, and the 3′-untranslated region. The promoter region displays the typical features of a housekeeping gene: a high G+C content and the absence of canonical TATA and CAAT boxes consistent with the multiple transcription initiation sites determined by primary extension analysis. Computer-assisted search in the human genome database allo…

2021

Studies on the function of PRDM9 in model systems and its evolution during vertebrate divergence shed light on the basic molecular mechanisms of hybrid sterility and its evolutionary consequences. However, information regarding PRDM9-homolog, PRDM7, whose origin is placed in the primate evolutionary tree, as well as information about the fast-evolving DNA-binding zinc finger array of strepsirrhine PRDM9 are scarce. Thus, we aimed to narrow down the date of the duplication event leading to the emergence of PRDM7 during primate evolution by comparing the phylogenetic tree reconstructions of representative primate samples of PRDM orthologs and paralogs. To confirm our PRDM7 paralogization patt…

The nucleic acid binding protein PcCNBP is transcriptionally regulated during the immune response in red swamp crayfish Procambarus clarkii

2015

Cellular nucleic acid binding proteins (CNBPs) represent a highly conserved protein family among vertebrates; they harbour seven tandem zinc finger repeats CCHC type and have been described as transcriptional and translational regulators. To date, there is little characterization of CNBP in invertebrates since its structure and function have been analysed solely in Drosophila melanogaster. However, no CNBP has been investigated in other arthropod systems. In an effort to isolate immune-related genes in Procambarus clarkii, a partial mRNA coding a zinc finger containing protein was found to be up-regulated during the response to white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) infection. The red swamp crayf…

Common variants conferring risk of schizophrenia

2009

Schizophrenia is a complex disorder, caused by both genetic and environmental factors and their interactions. Research on pathogenesis has traditionally focused on neurotransmitter systems in the brain, particularly those involving dopamine. Schizophrenia has been considered a separate disease for over a century, but in the absence of clear biological markers, diagnosis has historically been based on signs and symptoms. A fundamental message emerging from genome-wide association studies of copy number variations (CNVs) associated with the disease is that its genetic basis does not necessarily conform to classical nosological disease boundaries. Certain CNVs confer not only high relative ris…