HGNC Approved Gene Symbol: ZSCAN31
Cytogenetic location: 6p22.1 Genomic coordinates (GRCh38) : 6:28,324,737-28,356,271 (from NCBI)
ZNF323 is a member of the subfamily of C2H2 Kruppel-like zinc finger transcription factors that have a SCAN box domain (Pi et al., 2002).
By screening a human fetal heart cDNA library with a degenerate oligonucleotide corresponding to a conserved knuckle region and C2H2 zinc finger sequence of Kruppel-like zinc finger genes, followed by EST database analysis and RACE PCR, Pi et al. (2002) assembled a full-length ZNF323 cDNA. The deduced 406-amino acid protein has a predicted molecular mass of 44.66 kD. The protein contains 6 different C2H2 zinc finger domains in tandem arrays in the C terminus, and a highly conserved zinc finger-associated SCAN box, a 95-residue leucine-rich region with 3 predicted alpha-helices, in the N terminus. Northern blot analysis detected a 3.2-kb transcript in most embryonic tissues from 18 to 23 weeks, with highest expression in liver, followed by kidney and lung, and lower expression in intestine, brain, muscle, cholecyst, heart (at 18 weeks only), and pancreas. In adult tissues, ZNF323 was expressed at high levels in liver and kidney, and at lower levels in intestine, brain, heart, and muscle. Database analysis identified ZNF323 ESTs from many tissues, consistent with the wide range of expression detected by Northern blot analysis.
Pi et al. (2002) determined that the ZNF323 gene contains 8 exons and spans approximately 29.45 kb.
By genomic sequence analysis, Pi et al. (2002) mapped the ZNF323 gene to chromosome 6p22.3-p22.1.
Pi, H., Li, Y., Zhu, C., Zhou, L., Luo, K., Yuan, W., Yi, Z., Wang, Y., Wu, X., Liu, M. A novel human SCAN/(Cys)2(His)2 zinc-finger transcription factor ZNF323 in early human embryonic development. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 296: 206-213, 2002. [PubMed: 12147252] [Full Text: https://doi.org/10.1016/s0006-291x(02)00772-6]