Evolutionary Analysis of the Zinc Finger and Homeoboxes Family of Proteins Identifies Multiple Conserved Domains and a Common Early Chordate Ancestor.

ABSTRACT: The Zinc Fingers and Homeoboxes (Zhx) proteins, Zhx1, Zhx2, and Zhx3, comprise a small family of proteins containing two amino-terminal C2-H2 zinc fingers and four or five carboxy-terminal homeodomains. These multiple homeodomains make Zhx proteins unusual because the majority of homeodomain-containing proteins contain a single homeodomain. Studies in cultured cells and mice suggest that Zhx proteins can function as positive or negative transcriptional regulators. Zhx2 regulates numerous hepatic genes, and all three Zhx proteins have been implicated in different cancers. Because Zhx proteins contain multiple predicted homeodomains, are associated with interesting physiological traits, and seem to be only present in the vertebrate lineage, we investigated the evolutionary history of this sm

SUBMITTER: Nail AN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7144352 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature