High impact information on Zfp143

• The predicted amino acid sequence of m-Staf is highly homologous to that of Staf, another selenocysteine tRNA gene transcription activating factor of Xenopus laevis [1].
• The binding activity of m-Staf in mouse mammary gland was undetectable during virgin and postlactating periods but increased markedly in parallel with the increase of tRNAsec transcript during the periods of pregnancy and lactation, when the gland undergoes growth and development [1].
• Like Staf, m-Staf contains seven tandemly repeated zinc fingers and four repeated motifs [1].
• The full-length cDNA, designated m-Staf, has a 1878-base pair open reading frame encoding 626 amino acids [1].
• Transient co-transfection experiments in Drosophila Schneider cells, which lack endogenous Staf-like binding activity, showed that m-Staf increased the mouse tRNAsec gene transcription about 15-fold, whereas it stimulated Pol II-dependent thymidine kinase promoter only 2-fold [1].

Anatomical context of Zfp143

• These results indicate that m-Staf is a transcriptional activator of the mouse tRNAsec gene and that its binding activity in the mammary gland undergoes developmental alterations [1].

Analytical, diagnostic and therapeutic context of Zfp143

• Northern blot analysis detected the presence of a 3.4-kilobase pair m-Staf transcript, which was widely but differentially expressed in various murine tissues [1].

References