High impact information on Bnc1

• In keratinocytes, basonuclin behaves as a stem cell marker and is thought to be a transcription factor that maintains proliferative capacity and prevents terminal differentiation [1].
• Basonuclin is a zinc finger protein specific to basal keratinocytes and germ cells [1].
• This conclusion is based on observations that basonuclin is localized in the nucleolus in the mouse oocyte early in its growth phase, when rRNA transcription is highly active; and that the binding sites of basonuclin zinc fingers on the human and mouse rDNA promoters are homologous [2].
• Here, we report evidence that rDNA is not amplified in mouse oocytes, but these cells may instead employ the zinc-finger protein basonuclin, a putative rDNA transcription factor, to enhance rRNA synthesis [2].
• Function of basonuclin in increasing transcription of the ribosomal RNA genes during mouse oogenesis [2].

Biological context of Bnc1

• Basonuclin was first described as a human keratinocyte zinc finger protein present in the nuclei of proliferative basal keratinocytes in the epidermis [3].
• Translocation of the zinc finger protein basonuclin from the mouse germ cell nucleus to the midpiece of the spermatozoon during spermiogenesis [3].
• The nucleotide sequence of mouse basonuclin has been determined from its cDNA by PCR and compared with the previously known sequence of human basonuclin [4].
• As follicle morphogenesis proceeds, the epithelial cells possessing nuclear basonuclin invade the dermis and surround the follicular papilla [5].
• The target genes of basonuclin show that it regulates the expression of proteins involved in chromatin structure, transcription/DNA-binding, ion-channels, adhesion/cell-cell junction, signal transduction, and intracellular transport [6].

Anatomical context of Bnc1

• In the ovary, basonuclin was found mainly in the nuclei of developing oocytes [3].
• We now report that basonuclin is present also in the germ cells of the mouse testis and ovary [3].
• The dual presence of basonuclin in differentiated spermatozoa and oocytes suggests that it may play a role in their differentiation and the early development of an embryo [3].
• Immunocytochemical staining detected basonuclin in the nuclei of spermatogonia and spermatocytes at various developmental stages [3].
• Basonuclin as a cell marker in the formation and cycling of the murine hair follicle [5].

Other interactions of Bnc1

• Lens basonuclin, which was detected earlier than that of the cornea, was confined to the pre-equatorial epithelium and was absent in equatorial cells that expressed p57KIP2, an early differentiation marker for these cells [7].

Analytical, diagnostic and therapeutic context of Bnc1

• Whole eyes of mouse or rat were processed for frozen sections and cellular basonuclin was detected by either a rabbit antimouse- or a rabbit anti-human-basonuclin antibody [7].

References