BACKGROUND ZNF143 is an important transcriptional regulator protein conserved in metazoans and estimated to bind over 2000 promoter regions of both messenger RNA and small nuclear RNA genes. The use of zebrafish is a useful model system to study vertebrate gene expression and development. Here we characterize znf143a, a novel paralog of znf143b, previously known simply as znf143 in zebrafish. This study reveals a comparison of quantitative and spatial expression patterns, transcriptional activity, and a knockdown analysis of both ZNF143 proteins. RESULTS ZNF143a and ZNF143b have a fairly strong conservation with 65% amino acid sequence identity, and both are potent activators in transient transfection experiments. In situ hybridization analyses of both znf143 mRNAs show that these genes are expressed strongly in regions of the brain at 24 h post fertilization in zebrafish development. A transient knockdown analysis of znf143 expression from either gene using CRISPR interference revealed similar morphological defects in brain development, and caused brain abnormalities in up to 50% of injected embryos. Although present in the same tissues, znf143a is expressed at a higher level in early development which might confer an evolutionary benefit for the maintenance of two paralogs in zebrafish. CONCLUSIONS znf143a encodes a strong activator protein with high expression in neural tissues during early embryogenesis in zebrafish. Similar to its paralogous gene, znf143b, both znf143 genes are required for normal development in zebrafish.

中文翻译：

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斑马鱼中的两个旁系同源 znf143 基因编码具有相似功能的转录激活蛋白，但在早期发育过程中以不同水平表达。

背景ZNF143是后生动物中保守的重要转录调节蛋白，估计结合信使RNA和小核RNA基因的2000多个启动子区域。斑马鱼的使用是研究脊椎动物基因表达和发育的有用模型系统。在这里，我们描述了 znf143a，它是 znf143b 的一种新型旁系同源物，以前在斑马鱼中简称为 znf143。这项研究揭示了两种 ZNF143 蛋白的定量和空间表达模式、转录活性以及敲低分析的比较。结果ZNF143a和ZNF143b具有相当强的保守性，氨基酸序列同一性为65%，都是瞬时转染实验中有效的激活剂。对两种 znf143 mRNA 的原位杂交分析表明，这些基因在斑马鱼发育过程中受精后 24 小时的大脑区域强烈表达。使用 CRISPR 干扰对任一基因的 znf143 表达进行瞬时敲低分析，发现大脑发育中存在类似的形态缺陷，并导致高达 50% 的注射胚胎出现大脑异常。尽管存在于相同的组织中，但 znf143a 在早期发育中表达水平较高，这可能为斑马鱼维持两个旁系同源物带来进化益处。结论 znf143a 编码一种强激活蛋白，在斑马鱼早期胚胎发生过程中的神经组织中高表达。与其旁系同源基因 znf143b 类似，这两个 znf143 基因都是斑马鱼正常发育所必需的。