[Cloning and characterization of two novel alternatively spliced transcripts of ZNF268]

ZNF268 gene encodes a typical KRAB-containing zinc finger protein, which has an amino-terminal KRAB domain and 24 carboxyl-terminal C2H2 zinc finger motifs. There is evidence that ZNF268 is expressed in human early embryos, and that it played a role in the development of human fetal liver. In this study, we use immunohistochemistry to show that ZNF268 was also expressed in hematopoietic stem cells in 3-5 week-old human embryos. ZNF268 expression was also detected in the blood cells from 7 healthy adult donors by RT-PCR. Furthermore, 4 alternative transcripts were detected in the 7 samples. By cloning and sequencing, two novel transcripts, ZNF268c and ZNF268d were identified. We predict that there is association between ZNF268 and development of hematopoietic cells.