cDNA cloning of a human brain finger protein, BFP/ZNF179, a member of the RING finger protein family.

The rat bfp/znf179 transcript for a member of the RING finger protein family, is expressed in brain and up-regulated in neural differentiation of P19 embryonic carcinoma cells. Here we report the full-length cDNA structure of human BFP/ZNF179 and its expression profile. The cDNA clone consists of 3082 nucleotides and encodes an open reading frame of a 632-amino acid protein that contains a RING finger domain at its N-terminus, and alanine-rich and glycine-rich domains at its C-terminus. Reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction analysis of various human tissues indicated that BFP/ZNF179 is predominantly expressed in brain

cDNA cloning, expression profile, and genomic structure of human and mouse RNF10/Rnf10 genes, encoding a novel RING finger protein.

RING finger (C3HC4-type zinc finger) is a variant zinc finger motif present in a new family of proteins including transcription regulators. A new member of the RING finger protein family was identified through a mouse expressed sequence tag (EST) database search, and its full-length cDNA was isolated from a mouse brain full length-enriched cDNA library. The gene was designated as Rnf10, for RING finger protein 10. The cDNA clone consists of 3110 nucleotides and encodes an open reading frame (ORF) of an 804-amino acid protein. A database search revealed that human KIAA0262 protein (accession number, D87451) has strong homology to mouse Rnf10. To confirm that mouse Rnf10 is the homolog or an isolog of human KIAA0262, a human RNF10 cDNA was cloned in our hands from a fetal brain cDNA pool. The newly isolated cDNA contained an ORF for 811 amino acids which had almost identical structure to mouse Rnf10 protein, indicating that the human ORF codes for RNF10 protein. This finding was also supported by comparative chromosome mapping in which both genes were localized in a conserved linkage homology region between mouse and human. Comparison of the RNF10 and KIAA0262 proteins revealed that both were transcribed from the same gene and that the longer RNF10 ORF would be the authentic form. The complete genomic organization of RNF10 was determined to consist of 17 exons spanning at least 40kb in the genome