Alternative titles; symbols
HGNC Approved Gene Symbol: ZNF76
Cytogenetic location: 6p21.31 Genomic coordinates (GRCh38) : 6:35,259,533-35,295,985 (from NCBI)
Ragoussis et al. (1992) identified a novel testis-expressed zinc finger gene, ZNF76, by screening cDNA libraries with cosmids derived from 6p21. ZNF76 is a member of the GLI-Kruppel family of DNA binding proteins. It is conserved in mouse where transcription in testis is initiated at day 20 after birth. The mouse tcp-11 gene is located in the distal inversion of the t-complex and is developmentally regulated in the same manner as ZNF76. They are expressed in testis at exactly the same time. Ragoussis et al. (1992) isolated the human homolog of tcp-11 (186982) by use of a combination of somatic cell hybrids, radiation hybrids, metaphase and interphase fluorescence in situ hybridization, and pulsed field gel electrophoresis.
Staf is a Xenopus transcriptional activator that enhances transcription of small nuclear RNA (snRNA) and snRNA-type genes by RNA polymerases II (pol II) and III (pol III), and can also stimulate expression from a pol II mRNA promoter. See ZNF143 (603433). Myslinski et al. (1998) found that both ZNF76 and ZNF143 had homology to Staf. The predicted 515-amino acid ZNF76 protein shares 64% and 63% identity with Staf and ZNF143, respectively. Like Staf, both ZNF76 and ZNF143 contain 7 zinc fingers and an activation domain with the mRNA and snRNA activation regions. Both proteins bound Staf-responsive elements in vitro. When expressed in Drosophila cells, both activated transcription from an mRNA promoter through the Staf binding site. Chimeric ZNF76 and ZNF143 proteins activated a pol II mRNA promoter, as well as pol II and pol III snRNA promoters, in Xenopus oocytes. Northern blot analysis revealed that the 2.9-kb ZNF76 mRNA was expressed in all tissues tested, with the strongest expression in testis. Myslinski et al. (1998) concluded that ZNF76 is a novel DNA-binding protein related to Staf and ZNF143.
Ragoussis et al. (1992) mapped the human ZNF76 and TCP11 genes to the chromosome 6p21.3-p21.2 region and linked them to each other within 300 kb of DNA, approximately 2 Mb centromeric to the major histocompatibility complex. (The D number assigned to ZNF76 was D6S229E.)
Myslinski, E., Krol, A., Carbon, P. ZNF76 and ZNF143 are two human homologs of the transcriptional activator Staf. J. Biol. Chem. 273: 21998-22006, 1998. [PubMed: 9705341] [Full Text: https://doi.org/10.1074/jbc.273.34.21998]
Ragoussis, J., Senger, G., Mockridge, I., Sanseau, P., Ruddy, S., Dudley, K., Sheer, D., Trowsdale, J. A testis-expressed Zn finger gene (ZNF76) in human 6p21.3 centromeric to the MHC is closely linked to the human homolog of the t-complex gene tcp-11. Genomics 14: 673-679, 1992. [PubMed: 1427894] [Full Text: https://doi.org/10.1016/s0888-7543(05)80167-3]