Targeted identification of zinc finger genes expressed in rat lungs

Control of alveolar cell growth and differentiation after pneumonectomy likely involves changes in expression of regulatory genes, including those encoding zinc finger (ZF) proteins. To explore this premise, total RNA from the lungs of control and pneumonectomized rats was reverse transcribed; PCRs were performed with degenerate primers corresponding to amino acid sequences HTGEKP and CPECGK(N), which are evolutionarily conserved among ZF genes. Reaction products corresponding to three and four ZF units were isolated and cloned. Sixteen clones were sequenced and found to represent rat lung ZF genes: six clones were highly similar or identical to known ZF genes and ten clones showed lower homology to known ZF genes and thus appear to represent new members of the ZF family. Northern analysis demonstrated differential expression of some ZF genes after pneumonectomy. Thus a PCR-based strategy with primers derived from evolutionarily conserved ZF protein sequences efficiently identifies ZF genes expressed in lung, some of which may play a role in cellular growth and differentiation.