Predicted translation of a newly sequenced zinc-finger transcription factor from dental pulp stem cell mRNA

Objectives: Background: The original goal of this project was to the find the predicted human ortholog for the early developmental Drosophila gene, windpipe. Using the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) BLAST interface, this predicted gene (hmm30337) was identified from the transcript NM_178549, corresponding to an 8565 base pair coding region containing three, distinct Open Reading Frames (ORFs) for a 1746 base pair transcript encoding the 582 amino acid (68.1 kDa) hypothetical protein (MGC42493). Using NCBI BLAST, overlapping RT-PCR primers were designed to span the entire 8.53 kb region. Total RNA derived from adult human tissue cell lines was isolated and screened for mRNA expression. Negative results were obtained from all commercially available adult cell lines tested, although positive results were obtained from two distinct, undifferentiated mesenchymal dental pulp stem cell lines, revealing mRNA expression corresponding with the 1746 bp of the ORF containing MGC42493. Objective: Based upon these results, the goal of this project was to characterize this predicted gene and the corresponding hypothetical translated protein.
Methods: Methods: Using the confirmed sequence from overlapping cDNA sequence analysis, BLAST was used to predict the translation of the confirmed1746 bp mRNA.
Results: Results: Although a potential 678 amino acid protein (ZN678) was originally predicted for MGC42493, these results confirm a 582 bp zinc-finger transcription factor (ZNF582) with high homology to the original, predicted sequence from chromosome 1 (1q42.13).
Conclusions: Conclusions: Although the function and characterization of this predicted protein has not yet been completed, the finding that only a small subset of DPSCs, but no differentiated (adult) cell lines, were found to express RNA corresponding with this predicted gene product further suggests that this transcription factor may be involved with a process of differentiation that may be observed in (but not limited to) DPSCs.