Identification of a gene encoding a novel zinc finger protein in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

In the course of a comprehensive genomic screen for cell cycle regulated genes in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae (Price et al., 1991) we identified and characterized a transcriptional unit encoding a putative zinc finger protein named FZF1 (EMBL accession number: X67787). This gene encodes a protein containing five zinc fingers of the Cys2His2 class, three of which are positioned in tandem at the N-terminus. The fourth and fifth finger follow after an interruption of 61 and 66 amino acids, respectively. While FZF1 is constitutively expressed at a very low level, its deletion is not essential for growth. Its similarity with known transcription factors, however, suggests that the FZF1 gene product may serve as a transcription factor in yeast.