A retinoic acid-responsive human zinc finger gene, MZF-1, preferentially expressed in myeloid cells.

Zinc finger genes encode metal-binding proteins that can act as transcriptional regulators of other genes. In an effort to identify activators of the genetic cascade in hemopoietic differentiation, we used degenerate synthetic oligonucleotides to the conserved zinc finger histidine-cysteine link to probe a human myeloid lambda gt11 cDNA library. One of the cDNA clones obtained hybridized preferentially to mRNA from myeloid cells. This cDNA was used to isolate clones encompassing the coding region for this gene. Sequence analysis found 13 zinc finger regions and a glycine-proline-rich region between the fourth and fifth zinc finger domain. The gene was localized to chromosome 19q13.2-4, a chromosome that has a large cluster of zinc finger genes. The gene was preferentially expressed in myeloid leukemia cell lines with the highest mRNA levels noted in HL-60 cells induced to differentiate with retinoic acid. Thus, this new zinc finger gene (designated MZF-1) may be one regulator of transcriptional events during hemopoietic development.